Child tax credit

[feebee102]

Hi. My son left school and went straight into being an apprentice.Like a good citizen I informed the child tax credit and family allowance people of this,and both payments for him stopped in the August. After 11 weeks unfortunatly he was made redundant.He went to work for another company as an apprentice(no agreement was signed ,he was not being sent to college and no formal training was given).In December he left them as he was only getting �1.30 an hour.Some weeks he was working away from home and doing over 12 hours a day.He was given an allowance of �10 a day to pay for his lunch and evening meal.Most of the work was being done at the Hilton hotels in Leeds,London etc. and they where living there so you can imagine that �10.00 didn't go far and he was using his wages to suppliment this. He recently went to Connexions and they suggested that he went to College in September to gain his NVQ.He is getting a Bridging allowance of �15 a week for 8 weeks. My question (eventually) is can I get my allowances back for him (I am down by over �140 a month) now or when he starts back to college.

[Bev2007]

I cant answer your question but I would consider action against the company he worked for before Christmas.

They are clearly in breach of the national minimum wage requirements and I imagine several health and safety laws given his age and what you say about the company. �1.30 is not even the training wage of �80pw which could be argued as he didnt have a structured training programme. You can either make a claim or just a complaint at this website:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/complaint.htm

Good luck to him in September, and to you in getting some financial support.

[Loz_82uk]

You cannot get allowances back for him as he was on an employed apprenticeship. If he goes to college in Sept and does a full time course, you will be able to get Child Benefit/Tax Credits, plus your son may be eligible for EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) which is a weekly payment of up to �30p/w depending on the household income. Connexions would explain this to you if you rang them. Hope this helps.

[feebee102]

Thanks for your help.He is now going to file a complaint against the company.