Hi All
I have recenlty split from my partner and we had a joint tax/child credits claim. I work f/t, he is on ESA. When I filled the initial form in last year I asked the ex what benefit he was getting as per the question on the form, he showed me a letter from the Benefits Agency sayiing he was on Income related ESA, I duly filled this in and added my income etc and sent it off.
After we had split up, I rang HMRC to close the joint claim and make a single one. I received a new award notice stating that for the previous claim I had given the info that I was working f/t and he was claiming ESA, it states on the letter that he was receiving Income related ESA. I had to ring the HMRC back with more info relating to nursery fees, and during this call the advisor queried my ex receiving ESA and then said that we shouldn't have received as much money as we did as my income should have been taken into account for his claim to ESA, and that he wouldn't have been entitled to ESA in the first place because of my income. She told me this would probably lead to a massive overpayment which I will liable for as the money went into my account. I explained to her that I have never claimed benefits and so don't understand the system, I filled the form in to the best of my knowledge and declared that he was receiving Income related ESA so can this be classed as my fault when I gave them the correct info???
From what I can now gather, the ex never told the Benefits Agency that we had moved in together and so as the HMRC advisor pointed out, was never entitled to his ESA in the first place!! The more I now think about it, the clue does seem to be in the title of the benefit - INCOME RELATED!! My income was never obviously taken into account because he didn't tell them. I had nothing to do with his financial affairs though and never thought to question it, I paid the rent, council tax, utility bills etc, etc, and just answered the questions on the tax credits form honestly.
This is somethiing that I really don't need at the moment, he has kicked me and our 2 year old out of our council flat - tenancy was in his name, I am 40 this year and am currently living at my parents with our daughter!! If there is a lesson to be learnt from this mess then I will receive A**!
Any advice greatly received, thanks
I have recenlty split from my partner and we had a joint tax/child credits claim. I work f/t, he is on ESA. When I filled the initial form in last year I asked the ex what benefit he was getting as per the question on the form, he showed me a letter from the Benefits Agency sayiing he was on Income related ESA, I duly filled this in and added my income etc and sent it off.
After we had split up, I rang HMRC to close the joint claim and make a single one. I received a new award notice stating that for the previous claim I had given the info that I was working f/t and he was claiming ESA, it states on the letter that he was receiving Income related ESA. I had to ring the HMRC back with more info relating to nursery fees, and during this call the advisor queried my ex receiving ESA and then said that we shouldn't have received as much money as we did as my income should have been taken into account for his claim to ESA, and that he wouldn't have been entitled to ESA in the first place because of my income. She told me this would probably lead to a massive overpayment which I will liable for as the money went into my account. I explained to her that I have never claimed benefits and so don't understand the system, I filled the form in to the best of my knowledge and declared that he was receiving Income related ESA so can this be classed as my fault when I gave them the correct info???
From what I can now gather, the ex never told the Benefits Agency that we had moved in together and so as the HMRC advisor pointed out, was never entitled to his ESA in the first place!! The more I now think about it, the clue does seem to be in the title of the benefit - INCOME RELATED!! My income was never obviously taken into account because he didn't tell them. I had nothing to do with his financial affairs though and never thought to question it, I paid the rent, council tax, utility bills etc, etc, and just answered the questions on the tax credits form honestly.
This is somethiing that I really don't need at the moment, he has kicked me and our 2 year old out of our council flat - tenancy was in his name, I am 40 this year and am currently living at my parents with our daughter!! If there is a lesson to be learnt from this mess then I will receive A**!
Any advice greatly received, thanks