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1685903

registered interest
date	30/01/2024
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the overpayment of tax credits in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial years.
tabling member constituency	North East Fife
tabling member printed	Wendy Chamberlain
uin	12103
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2024 answer text <p>Estimates for the overpayments of tax credits in financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24 are not available. The latest statistics on the overpayments of tax credits on a financial year basis are for 2021-22 and are published here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-and-working-tax-credits-statistics-supplement-on-payments" target="_blank">Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: supplement on payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Statistics for 2022-23 are due to be published by HMRC in September 2024.</p> answering member constituency Mid Worcestershire answering member printed Nigel Huddleston question first answered 07/02/2024 16:34:49 answering member 4407 label Biography information for Nigel Huddleston
tabling member	4765 label Biography information for Wendy Chamberlain

1686042

registered interest
date	30/01/2024
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect vulnerable tax credit claimants who have accrued overpayment debt through no fault of their own.
tabling member constituency	North East Fife
tabling member printed	Wendy Chamberlain
uin	12145
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government takes a considered and balanced approach to the recovery of benefit debt and HMRC has strong processes in place to support those that may be struggling to pay back tax credits overpayments with manageable recovery plans.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC calculates tax credit awards across the financial year to ensure customers receive regular and consistent financial support. Customers are required to tell us of any change in circumstances and when they do, awards are recalculated and balanced across the remainder of the period. Customers are made aware of any overpayment that is generated as a result and the process to challenge the overpayment if they do not agree it is correct.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC has a well-established approach to help tax credit customers who are having difficulty repaying a debt and require extra support, including offering its customers debt advice referral to the Money and Pensions Service Money Adviser Network for a free bespoke independent debt service.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC will work with customers and can agree a temporary reduction in the rate of repayment based on their financial circumstances. In some cases, recovery of the debt can be paused. When customers and their tax credit debt move to Universal Credit, they can continue to access support through DWP.</p> answering member constituency Mid Worcestershire answering member printed Nigel Huddleston question first answered 07/02/2024 16:48:44 answering member 4407 label Biography information for Nigel Huddleston
tabling member	4765 label Biography information for Wendy Chamberlain

1538748

registered interest
date	02/11/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the recovery of historic tax credit overpayments is taken into account in the Government's projected revenue and expenditure plans.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	77427
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2022 answer text <p>The expenditure forecast for personal tax credits, published by the Office for Budget Responsibility, is produced on a cash basis. As such it includes cash movements such as recoveries of previous overpayments.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 09/11/2022 17:00:11 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1359539

registered interest
date	15/10/2021
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the total amount which is due to HM Revenue and Customs as a result of tax credit overpayments.
tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
uin	56502
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2021 answer text <p>The most recent estimate of the total amount due from Tax Credits overpayments was published in October 2020 in the 2019/20 HM Revenue and Customs Annual Report and Accounts as £4.8 billion as at 31 March 2020.</p> answering member constituency Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland answering member printed Mr Simon Clarke question first answered 20/10/2021 14:36:31 answering member 4655 label Biography information for Sir Simon Clarke
tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1313663

registered interest
date	11/05/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much it would cost to write-off overpayment tax credit debt accrued by Universal Credit claimants (1) in total, and (2) for the time periods of (a) 12 months and under, (b) 12 months to under 36 months, (c) 36 months and above; and in each case how many claimants would have their overpayment tax credit debt written off.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL55
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2021 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not store information in a format entirely commensurate with the question, but I can confirm that approximately £3 billion Tax Credit debt associated to Universal Credit claimants has been transferred to DWP. This debt relates to 2.4 million claimants, some of whom could appear more than once in this total. The following table breaks this down and shows how much has been recovered to date.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Tax Credit debt transferred to date</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Customer Count</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Values</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total Recoveries</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2016-17</strong></p></td><td><p>110.8k</p></td><td><p>£147.933m</p></td><td><p><strong>£6.261m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2017-18</strong></p></td><td><p>155.8k</p></td><td><p>£190.472m</p></td><td><p><strong>£37.987m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2018-19</strong></p></td><td><p>531.3k</p></td><td><p>£676.984m</p></td><td><p><strong>£109.091m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2019-20</strong></p></td><td><p>724.5k</p></td><td><p>£964.170m</p></td><td><p><strong>£213.693m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2020-21</strong></p></td><td><p>593.0k</p></td><td><p>£679.055m</p></td><td><p><strong>£206.041m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2021-22 YTD</strong></p></td><td><p>285.4k</p></td><td><p>£364.141m</p></td><td><p><strong>£61.838m</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Totals </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2400.8k</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£3,022.76m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£634.910m</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>During the same period, the Department wrote off £9.4 million Tax Credit debt for approximately 5,700 customers. The latest HMRC forecasts suggest that a further £2.4 billion is due to migrate to DWP Debt Management for future recovery. Therefore, based on the value of debt transferred to date and the forecast of further debt that will transfer, if all Tax Credits debt associated to UC claimants was written off it would cost in the region of £5.4 billion associated to approximately 4 million customers.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that overpaid benefit payments are recovered in accordance with the appropriate social security legislation.</p><p> </p><p>The Department seeks to recover benefit overpayments as quickly as possible without creating any undue financial hardship to the claimant. The rate of deduction is determined by legislation and can only be calculated once other higher priority deductions have been taken into account. The maximum deduction that can be taken from someone’s UC Standard Allowance was reduced to 25 per cent in April 2021.</p><p> </p><p>We want to ensure that repayment of all debt owed to the Department is sustainable and takes into account the customer’s ability to pay. Claimants are encouraged to contact DWP if they are unable to afford the rate of recovery. The recovery rate of Tax Credit overpayments can be reduced where a claimant is experiencing financial hardship.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 08/06/2021 16:57:06 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1256231

registered interest
date	27/11/2020
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to prevent tax credit claimants incurring overpayments in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	121795
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2020 answer text <p>HMRC have built on existing measures to address the risk of tax credits claimants incurring overpayments. This activity incorporates improvements to education and guidance, including to identify and address error and fraud at an earlier stage.</p><p>HMRC have delivered an ambitious training programme in 2019-20 to equip frontline staff with a wider range of tools and skills to help claimants maintain their correct entitlements. This includes continuing development of prompts to support conversations with claimants to keep their awards on the right footing.</p><p>HMRC have extended the range of their education and reminder campaigns to promote the correct reporting of the various factors that affect a claimant’s entitlement: for example, targeted letters to increase understanding of the criteria for single or joint claims or how to declare self-assessed income.</p><p>HMRC have also put measures in place to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 on claimants’ lives. In recognition that many claimants are not able to work their normal hours (including because they have been furloughed) the Government has legislated to suspend the eligibility criteria on “hours worked” in Working Tax Credit for claimants temporarily affected by the pandemic. This eliminates a potential source of overpayments.</p><p>For overpayments resulting from error and fraud, in five of the last six years for which results are available, HMRC have met the target set by ministers to restrict outturn levels to below five per cent of total expenditure. This includes 4.9% in 2018-19, the latest year for which HMRC have published Official Statistics; details of these can be found at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/920091/child_and_working_tax_credits_EF_2018-19_first_release.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/920091/child_and_working_tax_credits_EF_2018-19_first_release.pdf</a></p><p>HMRC continue to develop options to challenge losses from error and fraud, including working with their counterparts across Government and the wider public sector.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 07/12/2020 15:14:58 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

1248925

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect on tax credit claimants of the closure of the interface with HMRC on tax credit debt.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Heeley
tabling member printed	Louise Haigh
uin	111573
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2020 answer text <p>As part of our initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic we suspended recovery of all overpayment deductions as well as pausing notification of any new overpayments. The transfer of Tax Credit debts from HMRC to DWP was temporarily suspended as part of this approach.</p><p>Recovery of existing Tax Credit overpayments from Universal Credit has now resumed, along with the transfer of new Tax Credit debt to DWP.</p><p>There have been several discussions with HMRC, who own the Tax Credit Debt, to ensure that both the action of stopping tax credit collection and restarting has taken into account the customer perspective.</p><p>We want to ensure that repayment of all debt owed to the Department is sustainable and takes into account the customer’s ability to pay. Claimants are encouraged to contact DWP if they are unable to afford the rate of recovery. The recovery rate of Tax Credit overpayments can be reduced where a claimant is experiencing financial hardship.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/11/2020 17:48:57 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4473 label Biography information for Louise Haigh

1142179

registered interest
date	25/07/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people with cases of tax credit overpayment are (a) having and (b) not having deductions made from an ongoing tax credit claim.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	282483
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/09/2019 answer text <p>HMRC’s tax credits system does not contain readily available information on the number of people with cases of tax credit overpayment that are (a) having and (b) not having deductions made from an ongoing tax credit claim. Estimates could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Hereford and South Herefordshire answering member printed Jesse Norman question first answered 03/09/2019 15:06:13 answering member 3991 label Biography information for Jesse Norman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1128325

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 249940, whether the tax credit debt written off in 2011-12 as part of the Older Inactive Debts Policy was included in the figure for pre-2011-12 debt.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	257564
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>The tax credit debt written off in 2011-12 as part of the Older Inactive Debts Policy is not included in the pre-2011-12 debt figure of 16% provided in the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 249940.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 05/06/2019 12:48:20 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1128326

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many claimants have disputed a recovery of tax credit overpayment using (a) form TC846 and (b) another means of raising a dispute in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	257565
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>HMRC does not record data on the breakdown of the source of the receipt (TC846, paper, iform, other) so the information requested is not available.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 05/06/2019 07:52:51 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George