New tax credits 'well within' budget
Paymaster general Dawn Primarolo has claimed that despite emergency measures to cope with a collapsed helpline, the introduction of child tax credit will cost 'well within' its £300m budget.
Link: Tax man ignores credit pleas
And she continued to ignore complaints in the Commons that the introduction of the credit has hit serious problems, going on to the attack against complaining MPs instead.
Tory MP Stephen O’Brien claimed that despite her announcement that 700 staff had been added to helpline staff, his office had made 80 calls in 90 minutes – and failed to get through.
He demanded to know how much the extra staff are costing and why the helpline was still not working effectively.
Primarolo gave no direct answer, instead accusing the opposition of being wrong to claim the new credits were a disaster, pointing to a take-up by more than four million people, with tens of thousands more applications coming in each week.
She repeated her promise that all who claimed by Friday 25 April will be paid or receive enquiries about their claim by the end of the week.
Lending support to Primarolo, chief treasury secretary Paul Boateng claimed the Revenue’s computer systems were coping with the surge in demand caused by the introduction of tax credits.