LCWRA and child tax credit

robertt

Hello I'm receiving LCWRA at the moment. Recently I applied for child benefit as am taking care of my son full time. They have awarded me child benefit just yesterday. My question is now, if I apply for child tax credit, will this trigger or affect LCWRA in any way? At the end of the day they both DWP. Thank you 

poppy123456

You mention LCWRA which is part of UC. You can't claim tax credits because it no longer exists anymore. You can claim child element of UC providing the childs other parent isn't claiming this or tax credits for them already.

Tax credits were never anything to do with DWP, this was HMRC.

robertt

@poppy123456 I'm sure the other parent is claiming child element. But when I researched it,it says that whoever is claiming child benefit then most likely ' child element ' will go to this person aswel. So that means I have to make counter claim?

poppy123456

Both of you can't claim the child element. If your son is living with you then why is his mother still claiming the child element for him, she should have reported the changes.

You can put a claim in for the child element and it will be down to a decision maker from DWP to decide who the child resides with.

robertt

@poppy123456 because she was claiming everything up until now. Before I applied for child benefit I was told that CB got to be first, then child element. I read somewhere that, without court order if  there's dispute or any discrepancies between parents making claim, UC will go by whoever gets child benefit. So yeah, this child benefit had to be sorted first . Only yesterday I got award for Child Benefit. So I don't know if she is going to report change of circumstances. 

poppy123456

As i advised, you can report the changes and then it will be down to a decision maker to make the final decision but you can't both receive the child element for the same child.

calcotti

robertt said:

@poppy123456 because she was claiming everything up until now. Before I applied for child benefit I was told that CB got to be first, then child element.

That isn't correct advice. Usually the parent receiving CB will get the child element of UC but not necessarily.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1065520/admf1.pdf

Who is the responsible person?

F1056 The responsible person is
1. the person with whom the child or qualifying young person normally lives1or

2. where the child or qualifying young person normally lives with two or more persons who are not a couple, the person who has main responsibility2.

Normally Lives

F1060 “Normally lives” is not defined in legislation, and should be applied with a focus on the normal pattern of living, rather than the amount of time spent with a particular person, or in a particular place, and “normally lives with” can include both minority and majority carers

Note: which person gets CHB is not taken into account.

robertt

@calcotti my son lives with me 7 nights per week. He visits his mom twice per week only for dinner from 3.30pm till 7pm ( no nights)

calcotti

robertt said:

@calcotti my son lives with me 7 nights per week. He visits his mom twice per week only for dinner from 3.30pm till 7pm ( no nights)

 As advised by poppy

poppy123456 said:

As i advised, you can report the changes and then it will be down to a decision maker to make the final decision but you can't both receive the child element for the same child.

poppy123456

robertt said:

@calcotti my son lives with me 7 nights per week. He visits his mom twice per week only for dinner from 3.30pm till 7pm ( no nights)

Then as advised you need to report the changes on your journal and a decision maker will make that decision. The mother of your son really shouldn’t be claiming a benefit she’s not entitled to. 

robertt

Can this actually speed up LCWRA assessment? 

poppy123456

robertt said:

Can this actually speed up LCWRA assessment? 

No, not at all. Child element has nothing to do with LCWRA. 

robertt

Ok thank you poppy 

robertt

Hello again. On UC credit profile there's is question " when your child moved in with you" . How far should I go? I don't want to sound silly and say 2 years, making them ask me why haven't I done anything about it earlier. Another thing is that my payment is coming in on the 18th. If I report change of circumstances will everything be put on hold or that's two different issues? 

poppy123456

The mother is still claiming benefits for your son, whether that's child element of UC or child tax credits. Because of that then UC will not backdate your child element anyway. You could put the date of when your child benefit started. It also can't be paid to you until the money stops for the mother.

Your UC shouldn't be suspended while a decision is made.

robertt

Ok thank you. Do you think there's any way they could let her keep it , despite me looking after him, just to make both parties happy? I don't know if she reported change of circumstances I can only assume she hasn't.

poppy123456

I'm not a decision maker but he's living with you and not her. In my opinion, she should have reported the changes when he went to live with you because she's not really entitled to the money she's claiming. If she had reported the changes then her money for him would have stopped.

robertt

Well, benefits towards children are only benefits you can claim immorally or fraudulent without consequences. There's no reviews,and if someone else comes along like myself worst that can happen is that benefit will stop. Nothing else,no paying back,no sanctions etc. So yeah people use this opportunity hopping they can hold on to it for as long as they can.

poppy123456

robertt said:

Well, benefits towards children are only benefits you can claim immorally or fraudulent without consequences. Nothing else,no paying back,no sanctions etc. So yeah people use this opportunity hopping they can hold on to it for as long as they can.

No idea where you got that from but it's not correct. If a benefit has been claimed fraudulently and you weren't entitled to it then of course you need to pay it back. This includes benefits you're claiming for children.

robertt

Ok, my sons mother is not entitled to claim anything. When Child benefit was awarded to me, they told me that she hasn't even returned her form with details, I stated no my form that my son lives with me for very long time. Noone questions her - case closed. Im 100% sure when I apply for this child element on UC, noone will question or ask for any money back from her even though she will probably say " yes my son lives with his dad". I'm not even going to mention social housing, but can be easily proved that when she applied or got shortlist my son was already living with me. Is anyone going to ask her to move out? We all know the answer. No! 

poppy123456

Which ever benefits she's claiming, if they find out she's claimed fraudulently, she'll have to repay all of it back and there will be a small fine on top for not reporting the changes. I'm not talking about social housing, i'm talking about means tested benefits like UC child element and tax credits.

Anyway, i've given all the advice i can so i'm out now.