Memorandum from the Parliamentary and
Health Service Ombudsman
I have been informed by HM Revenue and Customs
(HMRC) that the Rt Hon Don Touhig MP asked Richard Summersgill,
Director Benefits and Credits Delivery, a question on 14 October
regarding the number of cases that had been referred to my Office
concerning overpayments of Tax Credits.
Although we do not hold our data in a format
that would allow us to easily check how many cases specifically
related to overpayments, I am happy to share with you how many
complaints my Office has received about Tax Credits, and to put
those figures into context.
In 2008-09, my Office received 1,161 complaints
regarding Tax Credits. 985 of these were against HMRC, 24 were
jointly against HMRC and the Adjudicator, and 152 were solely
against the Adjudicator. I am confident that the vast majority
of these cases will refer to overpayments.
In 2008-09, my Office accepted 2 of those cases
for investigation. Both were against HMRC.
In 2008-09 my Office reported on 51 Tax Credit
investigations. A breakdown of the outcome of those investigations
is shown in the table below.
| Fully upheld | Partly upheld
| Not upheld | Total |
HMRC | 3 | 5
| 2 | 10 |
Both HMRC and the
Adjudicator |
1 | 22 | 16 |
39 |
| Adjudicator | 0 | 0
| 2 | 2 |
As you will no doubt be aware, I have produced two reports
on the administration of Child and Working Tax Credits, in June
2005, entitled, Tax credits: putting things right and in October
2007, Tax Credits: Getting it wrong?
I have, of course, kept a close eye on HMRC's progress in
taking forward my recommendations, and I received a progress update
from Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive of HMRC, this summer.
By way of interest I can tell you that I saw a significant
decrease in the number of complaints about tax credits coming
to my Office in 2008-09 compared with in 2007-08 and I made reference
to this in my Annual Report for 2008-09 which was laid before
Parliament in July 2009. That is not to say that there is not
more work to do; there do, undoubtedly, remain problems. My Office
will continue to monitor closely the effectiveness and impact
of the implementation of my recommendations, and analyse any further
trends arising from the complaints which come to me. If I consider
that further action on my part is necessary, I will not hesitate
to intervene again in whatever way I believe to be most appropriate.
23 October 2009
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