Vexed issues

ALLISON PLAGER delves into the Adjudicator's annual report for 2005.

TAX CREDITS COMPLAINTS not surprisingly formed the bulk of the Adjudicator's complaints in the year to March 2005. In her foreword the Adjudicator Dame Barbara Mills DBE QC said that 'over half of all the complaints received … concerned tax credits'. Over 80% of the complaints about tax credits investigated were upheld in the complainant's favour either wholly or in part. Dame Barbara added that although two years have passed since their introduction the tax credit system is 'not working well for many claimants'. She said that overpayments were 'at the heart of many problems' a conclusion also drawn by the Parliamentary Ombudsman (see John Newth's article 'Tax credit breakdown' Taxation 21 July 2005 page 421).
The Adjudicator was 'particularly disappointed' that the complaints system seemed as difficult to...