I have a client who applied for tax credits in December 04. Her partner was working and they had one child. She had never applied before as she did not realise they would be entitled. She heard nothing after she applied, so concluded that she was not entitled. When we spoke to her as a new client recently, we told her she should have recieved at least the family element. She rang up the helpline and discovered that there was no record of her claim.

we are going to help her make a new claim, which can be backdated for three months, but what about the earlier period? Has anyone any experience of similar situations? Could she request compensation in lieu of the payments she should have had?