Tax minister 'should be sacked' following latest tax credit fiasco - Lorely Burt MP

5.07.55pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 31st May 2006

Solihull's MP Lorely Burt has joined colleagues in calling for the minister in charge of tax credits, Dawn Primirollo, to be sacked.

The call follows figures published today that reveal more than £2billion has been overpaid to claimants for a second year running.

Mrs Burt, who scrutinised evidence from the Paymaster General to the Treasury Select Committee earlier this year, said:

"I received assurances that the minister would solve the problems in her own department. Now we discover that the situation has not improved one iota. Over £4billion of taxpayer's money has been overpaid on her watch. That is more than the cost of the Iraq war, and she must be held responsible.

"In Solihull my staff have dealt with dozens of cases of real hardship where benefits have been cut or stopped when a computer decides an overpayment has been made - the onus is then placed on the claimant to prove the department was a fault for the overpayment. This can often lead to real hardship during the time taken to settle a dispute.

"The system is far too complex and cannot cope with every change of circumstances. We believe that awards should stand for six months to give more stability for families and prevent Inland Revenue staff trying to calculate benefit adjustments following millions of changes in personal circumstances. The system simply cannot cope and has lead to one third of awards being incorrectly calculated."

Lib Dem work and Pensions Shadow Minister, David Laws said:

"Families have been let down by the tax credit system for too long as the paymaster general has failed to take decisive action to resolve this continuing crisis.

"It is surely now time to replace the paymaster general, who through oversight, incompetence or complacency has presided over a broken system rife with incorrect payments and fraud."

ENDS