This is a riddle for all you budding mathematicians

From this years Annual review notice

Under "Children and Young people" heading
name of child than dob 12/01/85 (these are both correct)
description underneath :"This child is aged over 16 but under 19 and in full time education"

I still cannot understand how the computer programme allows this.
Last year I had an award notice for a family and in the same listing of their details it stated that the husband was in receipt of Incapacity and of Income Suppport and worked for 37 hours and worked for the DWP

Luckily they are not paying for the child so maybe they are getting better ?

Ah that would be Mr. and Mrs. Pan's son Peter.


I received a notice in March ..Qualifying children in your claim is 2....Qualifying children cared for by a registered or approved child care provider was 6.

Clearly everything in order!

When tax credits were first introduced a colleague, who has just the one child, got a letter saying she was being paid for two qualifying children: John Smith and, wait for it....... Smith John!(Names changed to protect the non-existent.) When she called the TC helpline to advise them that she had in fact only one child - John Smith - she was asked, 'Are you sure'?

I love the way tax credit argue with you.

I have a client where there appears to have been fraud on the case, and he fails the security check because the address he gives is not the one on file. Client lives in London, Tax Credit want me to ask him if he is SURE he doesn't live in, I think, Luton.

Strangely enough client is quite sure where he lives.

Then last week I rang and they queried my authority, and kept asking was I SURE that my name is not Caroline.

I am very sure.

Then they accepted that I had authority to act because I knew the CAB phone number (ex-directory but not exactly top secret).

Oh - and the most common error on the declaration appears to be just saying there are no children. We see a lot of those.

Victoria J.