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Number of usual working hours

To get Working Tax Credit, you must normally be over the age of 25 and work at least 30 hours a week. But you only need to work 16 hours or more a week if you or your partner:

• are aged at least 16 and are responsible for a child or young person
• are aged at least 16 and you qualify for an extra payment of tax credits because you have a disability
• are over 50 and going back to work after being on out-of-work benefits (such as Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance) for at least six months

You should expect your paid work to continue for at least four weeks.

If you're now working fewer hours

You may need to tell the Tax Credit Office if your working hours go down. If you don’t, you may get paid too much money and may have to pay it back.

Let them know straight away if you or your partner:

• were working 30 or more hours a week and are now working less than 30 hours a week
• were working between 16 and 30 hours a week and are now working less than 16 hours a week
• are part of a couple and your joint working hours are now less than 30 hours a week
• have been on strike for more than ten days
• are sent to prison or have been remanded in custody awaiting trial or sentence

What happens to your tax credits payments depends on whether your hours have gone down temporarily or until further notice.

Your hours have gone down temporarily

You can usually carry on getting your usual tax credits payments for four weeks from the date your hours dropped - as long as you expect your hours to go back to normal after four weeks.

Your hours have gone down until further notice or for good

You can carry on getting the same tax credits payments for four weeks from the date your hours go down. This can happen as long as all your other circumstances have stayed the same and one of the following applies to you:

• you've been getting extra tax credits because you were working 30 hours or more a week
• your hours have dropped to below 16 hours a week and you're still working

After the four weeks is up, your tax credits may:

• stop if you no longer qualify
• go down if you still qualify for some payments

If you are no longer working

Let the Tax Credit Office know straight away if you:

• stop working altogether either as an employee or self-employed person
• are no longer working and there is a gap of seven days or more before you start another job

If you stop work altogether, you will only be paid Working Tax Credit for a further four weeks from the date of the change.

You must report these changes within one month, or you could be paid too much money (an overpayment) which you may have to pay back. You may also be charged a penalty of up to £300.

If you're now working more hours

Tell the Tax Credit Office if your usual hours of paid work go up because you might be able to get more money. Report the change in hours as soon as possible, because any increase in your payments can only be backdated by up to three months.

You should let the Tax Credit Office know if you:

• have children or are disabled and were working less than 16 hours a week but are now working 16 or more hours a week
• were working less than 30 hours a week and are now working 30 or more hours a week
• are part of a couple that is responsible for one or more children and your joint working hours are now 30 or more hours a week - with one of you working at least 16 hours a week

The amount of tax credits you get depends on the amount of money you have coming in, so if increased hours also means an increase in income, then you should tell the Tax Credit Office straight away. It may not affect your current tax credits, but it will affect how much you should be paid for next year.

• Find out why it’s so important to report a change

• Find out how changes in income affect your tax credits

How to calculate your usual working hours

To claim tax credits, you need to tell the Tax Credit Office the total number of hours you usually work and are paid or expect to be paid for each week. If you’ve got more than one job you need to add together the total hours you usually work in each job.

You should include overtime hours if:

• you regularly work them in your working week
• you get paid for them or expect to be paid for them

If your hours are different from week to week, tell the Tax Credit Office what you and your employer agree are your usual working hours.

You may not be able to report what your usual working hours are because they change so much from week to week. This may be because you:

• do seasonal work
• only work in school terms
• work for an agency

If so, the Tax Credit Office may ask you to work out what your usual hours will be.

• Find out how to work out usual working hours for your tax credits claim

Contact the Tax Credit Office

If you need more help you can call the Tax Credit Helpline on 0845 300 3900, or textphone 0845 300 3909 if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day).

If you're calling from overseas you can also contact the Tax Credit Office on +44 289 053 8192.

• The cost of contacting 08 and 03 telephone numbers

More useful links

• Tax credits: how and when to report changes

• Find out how work can help you qualify for tax credits

• You have a disability - can you get extra tax credits?

• Tax credits information for the over 50s