News story

9th July 2003

Local MP Speaks Out Over Tax Credits Shambles

Northavon MP Steve Webb has spoken out in the House of Commons over the tax credits chaos which left dozens of South Gloucestershire families in dire financial straits and hundreds more infuriated by a telephone "helpline" which was constantly engaged. The MP was speaking in support of a motion condemning the way in which the Government had introduced the new tax credit system. Across Britain, millions of people had not received their money on time, and roughly a million more entitled people have still to make a successful claim.

In Northavon, Steve Webb has been contacted by dozens of local families who have faced serious financial problems as the old system of payments was ended before the new one was successfully implemented. Other families reported that they had found it impossible to get through on helplines which were constantly engaged, whilst others were actually being paid for too much money but were unable to contact the Inland Revenue to get them to sort out the problem. Steve Webb used a special MP's "hotline" to resolve matters for most constituents, but condemned the way that the whole system had been introduced.

The Lib Dem MP said:

"Many families depend on tax credits for a significant part of their weekly income, and it is totally unacceptable that they were deprived of their money for weeks or months in some cases. The so-called helpline was a disgrace. It is vital that lessons are learned when the new pension credit scheme is introduced in October. This is designed to be heavily reliant on telephone-based claims, and the Government must make sure that a proper telephone service has been set up to avoid a repeat of this shambles".

Click here for the text of the debate in Parliament.