Citizens Advice slams tax credit system

Paying back any overpaid amounts can cause debt management difficulties and serious financial hardships for consumers across the country, the not-for-profit organisation has claimed.

And the problem has been impacting households nationwide for many months, Citizens Advice suggests, citing statistics that show millions families have been overpaid via the tax credit scheme for each of the last three years.

“People find themselves struggling to repay large overpayments without receiving proper explanations of how they have arisen and without being given notice before recovery starts, so they have no time to budget or even challenge the overpayment,” commented Katie Lane, policy officer at Citizens Advice.

More than 1.4 million people across the UK approached Citizens Advice about debt problems during 2006, the charity’s own figures have shown.