I have got a long and frustrating post about the ordeal of the tax credit claim process so far but as I found some interesting info that was a bit more to the point I've put it in this new post so that anyone else will know what is going on when they have applied for tax credits and they have been told (or even not told as Revenue and Customs are prone) that the national insurance number of their non British partner is not being matched to their details thus holding up the whole claim.
So heres what I found out today after being led in circles by the tax credit helpline and hearing about other people with non british spouses waiting up to six months for their claims to be processed with no reason being given.
As soon as it became apparent that my claim was being delayed (which in itself is nightmare as they keep giving you differant dates . Go from the first given date!) I went to my local tax office and the women there were super helpful, one was being trained and so I got the benefit of hearing exactly what the process was as it was explained to her.
Within minutes they had worked out that as well as the national insuarance number not matching for my American husband it had also claimed that I had residency issues despite being born and raised in England!?! We went in armed with passports, visas, marriage certificates, birth certificates and proof of national insurance numbers etc and the older woman explained to the trainee that this was common and that most claims with a new national insuarance nnumber will take a minimum of three months, possibly six as it takes that long for the system to acknowledge them.
Then she explained to the trainee that only she was allowed the number to the department that could sort this out quicker and that even when the trainee was working on her own she would have to call her over to make the call. Then she went and got a list of numbers "Her magic numbers" from a locked drawer, hiding the page even from the trainee and made a very brief call, straight through to a man who removed the problems from the system in less than two minutes! Once they clicked back on the screen they were gone! Now I can expect payment within the next 48 hours and the women from the tax office said they would keep an eye on my claim over the course of the day to make sure things progressed.
Sooooo happy and yet kind of p*ssed off that it is so easy to rectify and that no one even tells you anything. We thought it was a problem with his national insurance number itself and have been on the phone, in the job centre trying to make sure there was no problem when all along it had been a standard lie!
Go to your tax office!
