Tax Credits: Norman Lamb wants statement on overspending in Norfolk

6.59.01pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 13th Oct 2005

Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, and the Liberal Democrats want Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo to make an urgent statement on tax credit overspending.

National Audit Office figures revealed that total overpayment to claimants in 2003/04

has now risen to £2.2bn, with nearly £1bn likely to be written off.

Norman Lamb has tabelled Parliamentary Questions asking how much was overpaid in Norfolk that year, how much was then written off, how many people in the county were overpaid and how many have requested write off.

Tax credits, introduced in 2003 in the form of child tax credit and working tax credit, have come under severe criticism for being so complex: 1.8 million claimants were overpaid in 2003/04. Many claimants faced hardship after being asked to repay money they had already spent.

The Revenue has made provision for £961 million of tax credit overpayments it does not expect to recover.

Mr Lamb said, "My office has been inundated with problems related to tax credits. It is scandalous that these problems have dragged on for so long affecting so many hard pressed families."