Online consultation on tax credit blunders wants to hear from you

12.00.00am GMT Mon 21st Feb 2005

Local Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow is calling on constituents who have faced problems with tax credit overpayments to report their experiences to an independent advice network collecting evidence on the problems people are facing.

The online consultation is being run by adviceni - an independent advice network based in Northern Ireland. They are seeking the views of tax credit recipients from all over the UK.

The Inland Revenue is currently trying to recover £57million of overpayments, made when the tax credit was launched last year. But over 80,000 families have made claims to keep their overpayments, which they are entitled to if it is found that overpayments was the Inland Revenue's fault.

Paul Burstow said:

"The Government's continued inability to pay families the money they are owed is breathtaking. Many local families have contacted me because they are being left out of pocket without the means for everyday living.

"The introduction of the new tax credits has pushed millions of families onto a rollercoaster of late payments, overpayment, claw back of payments and reassessments. It is time the Government looked at simplifying the system and ended the misery of the hundreds of thousands of families caught in a bureaucratic nightmare.

"The more evidence that can be gathered about the problems for ordinary hard working families the better. For anyone who has internet access, I recommend using the opportunity of highlighting your experiences in this way."