Clause 4 - Claims: supplementary
Tax Credits Bill
12:45 pm
Mr Howard Flight (Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)
The amendment, which would require a claimant or someone acting for him to meet an official to provide information to establish the claim, is a helpful, anti-fraud measure, as the rules and complexity even of child tax credits are considerable. It is unrealistic to believe that many people will easily be able to understand the forms, no matter how well they are devised. The Government cannot be wholly happy with the take-up even of the existing child tax credit. The amendment would help people to find out what they are entitled to claim and assist those who need it. In the context of some pretty tortuous arrangements for claims based on this year's or last year's income and whether hours worked relate to this year or last year, the amendments would also afford an opportunity upfront to iron out a lot of issues. People could be helped and advised about what they are entitled to and the Revenue would have an opportunity to ask questions. Obviously, it might discover from an interview that a claim is not justified.
I appreciate that there would be an administrative-time cost. Interviews would have to be conducted locally, which would presumably involve Revenue staff and so on. However, the interview model that the Government introduced in a number of areas has been quite successful, and the model of people going to the DWP to find out what they are entitled to is well established. Therefore, there is logic behind these two parallel amendments, which would make the system work better, help individuals and provide a mechanism to reduce fraud.