Why go to work?

Vicki works as a classroom assistant

One of the aims of the Tax Credit system was to make it worthwhile for people to get off benefits and back to work.

That's not how things are turning out for Vicki Vedder, a single mother of two who lives near Doncaster.

She works 16 hours a week as a classroom assistant and gets Working Tax Credit to top up her salary and Child Tax Credit.

When she was offered the chance to work an extra six hours a week, Vicki saw it as an opportunity to become less reliant on benefits.

Estimated

"I rang the helpline before committing myself to check how it would affect my Tax Credit," she explains.

"The chap on the phone was very helpful and took all my details and estimated that I would probably lose about £12 per week off my Tax Credit."

Vicki worked out that it would be worth doing the extra hours and agreed to take them on.

It's just crazy that I want to work more time and I don't want to be on benefits but I am losing out. Vicki Vedder

"But by the time I had done two weeks on the job, my statement came through from the Tax Credit office saying I would be losing about £250 a month," she says.

She has now had to turn down the extra work and return to her original 16 hours.

Vicki is annoyed that her experience contradicts the government's aim that Tax Credits should make work pay.

"It's just crazy that I want to work more time and I don't want to be on benefits but I am losing out," she says.

"There could be other people out there in a similar situation."

The Inland Revenue are investigating Vicki's case.

They say they don't know why taking on more work should lead to her being worse off as that's exactly what the system is designed to prevent.

Regularly

Vicki believes income should be assessed more regularly than once a year to avoid mistakes happening. She thinks every month or every six months would make more sense.

Working Lunch has heard from many people whose assessments were wrong.

In general, if your income rises or falls by up to £2,500 you don't have to notify the Tax Credit office.

But if the variation is more than that amount, you should let them know at once.

You can wait until the end of the year, but you might find yourself having to pay money back to the Inland Revenue.

A huge mailshot is current under way to all 5.9m recipients of Tax Credit.

A leaflet explains exactly what information people need to pass on.