Scandal of tax credits system must be addressed

From the Oxford Mail, first published Thursday 1st Jun 2006.

It is scandalous that the Government has allowed the tax credit system to become such a shambles.

It was launched with good intentions - to raise the income of the lower-paid and help them enjoy a decent standard of living.

But the scheme has been dogged by administrative blunders. Latest figures show that 16,000 Oxfordshire families were overpaid by £13.1m - an average of £825 each.

Meanwhile, 7,400 families in the county have been underpaid.

It is difficult to imagine a more chaotic scenario.

The Government says that overpayments will be written off where its staff have made the mistake and the claimant could not have spotted the error.

But that still leaves thousands of families in suspense, worried that they might have to cut their spending to pay back the money.

Desperate people have been known to commit suicide when faced with debts they cannot meet.

How on earth could we have got into this mess?

The Government puts the blame on computer problems.

But that is the weakest excuse in the book. Someone has to put the figures into the computer in the first place.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, a former Work and Pensions Secretary, is right when he says that urgent action is needed.

It is unfair that anyone should be forced to go through such a trauma at the hands of a Government that was supposed to be helping them.

After the recent chaos in the Home Office, it makes you wonder where the next monumental Government cock-up will occur.

Archive Home