Tax credit chaos still failing Cambridge families

11.23.07am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 5th Jun 2006

David Howarth, Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, has today called for a total overhaul of the way tax credits are awarded after new figures revealed that 2100 families in Cambridge are still being forced to pay back over £2 million worth of tax credits, due to overpayments made by HM Revenue and Customs.

Mr. Howarth said:

"It is simply unacceptable that one year on, £2 million of tax credits in Cambridge are still being overpaid. In some areas, the situation is getting worse not better.

"Last May, the Paymaster General claimed that the system was working well for the vast majority of families but these figures show that the Minister is clearly in denial - in actual fact nationwide 44%, over 2.8 million people received incorrect tax credit payments.

"The Minister has known of the systemic failures in the tax credit system for years and today's figures are yet more evidence that too little has been done to rectify them. Recent modifications to the system are too little too late.

"Meanwhile Dawn Primarolo continues to bury her head in the sand and blocks parliamentary scrutiny of this crucial issue. New ministerial leadership is now needed to introduce a radical overhaul of the way tax credits are administered."