Our social security advisers have recently dealt with cases of delays in payment of Child Tax Credit linked with the national insurance number (NINO) requirement.  These cases, where delays sometimes lead to extreme hardship, can actually be resolved fairly quickly once people are aware that HMRC is able to waive the requirement in some cases.

In a recent case, our client contacted Law Centre (NI) for help in dealing with HMRC Child Tax Credit which had been withdrawn when she had moved in with her Romanian fiancé.

She had been receiving Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance along with Child Tax Credit for her ten year old son.  When she and her fiancé moved in together she promptly notified HMRC of the change in her circumstances.  Her fiancé did not have a national insurance number and although HMRC can waive the requirement for a NINO in such cases, when she contacted Law Centre (NI) she had not received CTC for her son for more than four months despite numerous phone calls and complaints.

We wrote to the legal department of HMRC and stated the intention to seek Judicial Review if the CTC claim was not re-instated within fourteen days and payments backdated.  The family was experiencing extreme financial hardship as CTC makes up more than a third of their disposable income.

Our client was delighted when HMRC sorted out her claim and paid arrears within the fourteen days.