Derry Sinn Fein Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

'Tax Credits overpayments should be written off - Anderson

Published: 26 March, 2009

The Tax Credit system is failing the most vulnerable people in the North of Ireland, Sinn Féin Equality and Human Rights spokesperson Martina Anderson MLA has insisted.

"This week the Committee of the First and Deputy First Minister is considering a response from the British Treasury to a number of concerns which we raised regarding the implementation of the Tax Credit system here," Ms. Anderson commented.

"Unfortunately, they sought to defend many of the failings in the service - particularly the issue of clawing back mistaken overpayments.

"The Treasury insist that they will never take back more than 10% of the benefit paid to someone on the maximum level of Tax Credit. They further state that they will not seek to claw back any money if it puts the claimant in financial difficulty.

"My office regularly deals with Tax Credit claimants who have had 100% of their payments stopped. In every single instance, these people have been forced into financial difficulties which were not of their making.

"The vast majority of overpayments occur as a result of mistakes within the system and I am today repeating Sinn Féin's call for all these overpayments to be written off."

The Foyle MLA also challenged the Treasury's assertion that 89.1% of claims are processed within five working days.

She added: "That is certainly not the experience of the constituents I deal with who are often waiting months for their money to come through.

"In fact, their experience is more akin to that of the OFMDFM Committee. We wrote to the Treasury outlining our concerns on 12 December 2008 and we are only receiving the response now.

"I believe that Tax Credits have the potential to be a very worthwhile system but it is clear that there is no willingness among unaccountable British Ministers to resolve these problems and the sooner these powers are transferred into Irish hands the better it will be for the most vulnerable people in our community."