TAX CREDITS

Early day motion 268, tabled 7 June 2005 by Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 58 members.

That this House notes statistics recently published by Revenue and Customs showing that a third of all tax credits are overpaid; finds this level of overpayment to be unacceptable and calls on Revenue and Customs to clarify what proportion of overpayments were due to official error; further notes that this has resulted in nearly two million families having to repay on average over £1,000 each; is particularly concerned at the detrimental effect that this will have on low income families trying to manage a budget; believes that the policy of reassessing income at the end of the award should be revised; and calls on Revenue and Customs to improve both its communication with families involved and its procedure for recovery of overpayments when this is necessary.

Signatures by party: Liberal Democrat 31, Labour 13, Conservative 4, DUP 4, Plaid Cymru 3, Scottish National Party 2, UUP 1.