it’s that Tax Credit cock up once more!

just to summarise the story so far.  several years ago they failed to update their system on Duke’s latest employer.  This would be despite the fact that I was phoning on a damned near weekly basis to tell them changes in income and employer and despite the fact that the agency who “run” tax credits know damned well who everyone works for and how much they get paid cos they take our taxes off us before giving some of it back again.

Last month i finally got it all sorted, found exact starting dates for all previous employments and addresses for them too.  Got a letter acknowleging that, because the change in working was more than X years ago they would be unable to change the award given for that year (which was fine because updating the name of your employer is hardly likely to change the numbers attached to your income now is it, although I bet if it had led to an overpayment they would ahve been able to do somethign about it) and got this year’s award.  Not a fantastic amount of money but enough to keep us afloat as long as we don’t have days out often, buy luxuries or eat expensive food.  I can do that.  I can feed us for the week on under £40, including the cat and the guinea pigs, and that was pretty much what budget I had.

Until today.  Today I got a letter saying that my circumstances have changed and thus my tax credits are going down by £60 a month.  Bear in mind here that I need £40 a week to feed the hungry hoards, that’s 1.5 week’s worth of grub I can’t buy.  Now obviously we can eat cheaper, or we could if Duke would eat beans/pulses cos they are dirt cheap and filling.  But he won’t and to be honest I can think of better things to eat too.  So I phoned.  Got through after 6 minutes, spent 15 minutes trying to explain that NOTHING IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES HAS CHANGED in the last month.  Eventually, Sonny Jim spots that Duke doesn’t appear to be working any hours at all according to their system.  He was last year, adn was credited with the extra bonus point for working 40 hours a week, but this year he isn’t.  It’s a glitch on the system he says.  He will try to sort it out for us he says.  It still doesn’t explain why it’s happened though does it?  And he’s only going to try to put it right, no promises.  So, menus needed please for a weekly food budget of £25 for 3 carnivores.  Alternately, of course, I could get some nice little job, send child to school where she belongs and be good little citizens, grateful for the crumbs of assistance offered by our great and glorious leader.  No, wait, if I went to work full time we wouldn’t get crumbs of assistance would we?  We’d be earning too much to qualify.  And in the mean time, those lucky sods who know how to milk the system are in council housing with means tested rent, getting all their maintenance done FOC and new bathrooms or kitchens put in every 4 years or so paid for by the rest of us idiots who own our own homes.  Should have stayed where we were in a condemned terrace and demanded the council do something about it.

reasons to be grumpy, 1,2,3 (and then some)

Right, before I start, I know non of this is exactly life threatening but then when has that ever stopped me?

1. Amazon e-mailed on Monday to say 2 of my 3 videos had been sent, they still aren’t here (it’s Friday)

2. On teh 9th May I filled in a whole new set of paperwork for Guiding as the person who was dealing with the lot I filled in last August had filed them in a stacking crate and done bugger all else. So Tuesday (6 weeks later) I e-mailed the lady to see if there was a projected date for at least my CRB to be finished (shall we gloss over the fact that I’m not supposed to be left alone with the girls until this has been done?) and got a terse “it’s only been a short while” reply. So I phoned the CRB office to make sure something was being done and yes, they had my form, it had got to them 3 days ago. So it’s going to be at least another 3 weeks before that’s processed. This is “fast tracking your membership” Guiding style then is it? I’m on a camp the first week in August and I need the paperwork to be finalised before I go otherwise they won’t let me on the site! and yes, when we filled in teh May set of paperwork they KNEW that and assured me it wouldn’t take very long….

3. Someone phoned yesterday asking if they could come round and collect an aerial Duke had ordered on their behalf a few weeks ago. I said yes and wandered off to put it by the door. I then spent the next hour looking for it and apologised when the lady arrived as I’d not found it, had phoned Duke who assured me it was where I had looked and phoned Harley in case Duke had forgotten that he ahd given it to him to pass to this lady (which had been the plan) Duke now thinks it may be in the ambi but he’s not sure….

4. The Freeloader we got for Aprilia so she could charge the DS when we are camping without power will ONLY carge in FULL SUNLIGHT not daylight, sunlight. So that’s a waste of time in the UK then really isn’t it. It’s been sat on our window ledge for 4 days and didn’t have the power to even put the charging light on her DS.

5. and whilst on the subject of her DS, she’s lost the charging cable.

6. Harley phoned at lunchtime to eat worms at me (must tell him to get a blog, that way you can vent all you like and not inflict it on anyone who doesn’t want to waste large chunks of their life listening) about how their pre-holiday chat in teh pub after a meeting had been totally ruined by other people from teh same meeting thinking it was okay for them to go to teh pub afterwards too and sit chatting with them. Gee honey, you didn’t get to plan next February’s Florida trip already? How sad am I about that?

7. Same phonecall but different subject. The ambi was in for repairs for the umpteenth time and needed picking up from the other side of Chester. Harley had said I might need to do it with him (not asked you note here, said.) but as Duke had gone off with my car, what with it being more economical and not having a slow puncture, I told Harley that I wouldn’t be available to do it. So he said me and Duke could do it as soon as he got in from work at just past 4. I pointed out that as last night was the Computer Fair, Duke wasn’t available. Not a problem says Harley, we can do it and still ahve Duke to the Computer Fair by 6pm (it starts at 5) I got blunt and informed him that if he thought we were going to go across a major city at rush hour and back again he could think again. He didn’t seem terribly happy. I still don’t care that he didn’t seem terribly happy although I do feel slightly sorry for his wife who will have had chapter and verse of how unhelpful members of his centre are.

8. I stubbed my toe on the “loft ladder” which is propped up on the landing (again)

9. it rained all day

10.  I’m sure there was a 10 but I can’t remember it now!