Are top up payments still being made?
I had a query from a lone parent whose tax credit payments (WTC and CTC) were reduced to nil five weeks ago due to an in year overpayment. She is now in receipt of IS of £31.95 and a small amount of part time earnings. Her MP's secretary have been told by the TCO that she cannot get top up payments as she has already received her maximum entitlement for 2003/4. Is this correct I know there was a lot of discussion about top up payments last year but cannot find any recent posts.

Thanks

I won't pretend to know the answer, but the code of guidance on overpayments describes additional payments being designed to bring an in year award that has been amended (to reduce or eliminate a likely overpayment)back up to a rate that would be paid if an end of year overpayment was being recovered.

Maximum Credit 10%
Family element only 100%
Others 25%

If the full award for the year has already been paid - this type of additional payment wouldn't be possible.

Thanks, I've now double checked the code of guidance myself and it certainly seems like top ups would not be payable in her case.

Is Euan's advice correct?
If the in year adjustment is done, and produces a nil award for the rest of the year, I think that top up payments can still be claimed, they become additional overpayments at the end of the year.
This would have the same effect then, as the overpayment being recovered as an end of year overpayment at the appropriate rate.
The only exception to this I can see is if no TC have been due at all.

CPAG said at recent training that top ups can be claimed when the in year recovery gives a nil balance, but I am prepared to be argued with!

I agree with the last post. I have a client who was overpaid (IR error), whose award was cut right back but who is now getting top ups which mean there will be a substantial overpayment by year end. My reading of the Code of Practice is that this is allowable even if the payment had been reduced to nil. The client should certainly claim a hardship top up. She should (in theory) be able to get a giro payment by going to her local tax enquiry centre but in practice she may find (as my client did) that they seem to know nothing about the arrangements.

Thanks, we have already tried to get top ups via the local tax enquiry office but were unsuccesful. A staff member who appeared to want to help eventually told us she would face a disciplinary if she issued the giro without consent of the TCO. The local MP has also tried but was told no top ups as she had already had max tax credits.
Back to the local tax enquiry office then...

Have you tried going back to the helpline? When there was a lot of publicity about this issue just before Christmas, Dawn Primarolo assured people on TV that if they were in hardship due to TCs being cut, all they had to do was ask the helpline to arrange top up payments! I am sure the Code of Practice on overpayments covers the situation of a reduction to nil on pages 2 & 3.

Is the time of year the problem here? So close to the tax year end it's not really worth applying for a top-up now - in my experience it has never taken less than two weeks for the TCO to sort one out, by which point we're in the new tax year and, allegedly, everyone will have all over- and under- payments, errors and omissions ignored and go back onto their final final 03/04 estimated rate, unadjusted, until the reconcilitations are all sorted out by July or whatever and they get the bill for overypayments, the payment for underpayments, and the first final estimate for 04/05 payments set-off by the run-on of 03/04 estimate payments made from April thereto, and are happy and the Government can say how smoothly everything is running.

Has anyone seen any client documentation regarding what is happening in two weeks time?

I had success in getting a client a top up payment from local tax office. They handed over payment of £500. This was last week.

Another client has had top up payment organised last week via TC office. So they were still making them last week.

Not trying to say the system is working... have plenty of horror stories, just that it is still worth a try.

Dear welfare rights specialists

The Group for which I am responsible (The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group) is starting a series of articles on Tax Credits which will appear on our website over the next week or so in advance of renewals.

We will always welcome comment and correction from those of you on the front line via our Contact page.

You can find us at www.litrg.org.uk

Top up payments are being made in the form of a giro from your local Tax Credit office.