Farron hits out at Government's disgraceful tax credit record

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 23rd May 2007

Local Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron has hit out at the government's disgraceful tax credit record after the government published records showing they made mistakes on almost half of his constituents' claims.

The official figures show that there were mistakes made on 3,800 of the 8,400 claims by families in Westmorland & Lonsdale during 2005/6. There were 1,300 familes who were underpaid by a total of £1million and 2,500 families who were overpaid by a total of £2million.

Tim Farron said: "Hardly a week goes by without at least one local family contacting my office because of a problem with the payment of their tax credits. Quite simply, the government's record on tax credits here in Westmorland & Lonsdale is a disgrace.

"The tax credit system leads to uncertainty for many families locally as they have no way of knowing what they will receive, and many families on already low incomes are having to pay back huge amounts in overpayments which were not their fault. Together with my Liberal Democrat collegues, I am campaigning for a simple system of fixed term awards of six months so that families know what they are getting and get what they are entitled to."