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Written Question
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the overpayment of tax credits in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial years.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Estimates for the overpayments of tax credits in financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24 are not available. The latest statistics on the overpayments of tax credits on a financial year basis are for 2021-22 and are published here: Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: supplement on payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Statistics for 2022-23 are due to be published by HMRC in September 2024.


Written Question
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Wednesday 7th February 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect vulnerable tax credit claimants who have accrued overpayment debt through no fault of their own.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government takes a considered and balanced approach to the recovery of benefit debt and HMRC has strong processes in place to support those that may be struggling to pay back tax credits overpayments with manageable recovery plans.

HMRC calculates tax credit awards across the financial year to ensure customers receive regular and consistent financial support. Customers are required to tell us of any change in circumstances and when they do, awards are recalculated and balanced across the remainder of the period. Customers are made aware of any overpayment that is generated as a result and the process to challenge the overpayment if they do not agree it is correct.

HMRC has a well-established approach to help tax credit customers who are having difficulty repaying a debt and require extra support, including offering its customers debt advice referral to the Money and Pensions Service Money Adviser Network for a free bespoke independent debt service.

HMRC will work with customers and can agree a temporary reduction in the rate of repayment based on their financial circumstances. In some cases, recovery of the debt can be paused. When customers and their tax credit debt move to Universal Credit, they can continue to access support through DWP.


Written Question
National Insurance
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many additional staff he has (a) recruited and (b) transferred from other roles in order to process additional changes to National Insurance records arising from (i) the HMRC exercise to correct errors in records relating to Home Responsibilities Protection and (ii) the forthcoming online service on payment of voluntary NI contributions.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC has recruited 42 FTE (Admin Officers) to support the 18 months Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) exercise, adding to the small core team in situ, there has been no transfer of operational resource to HRP. The forthcoming online service for the payment of voluntary NI contributions, will allow HMRC to see a reduction in the operational resource supporting the current route. In April 2023 we deployed an additional 200 FTE to support the payment of voluntary National Insurance in a telephony/post capacity.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Underpayments
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) letters have been issued to people who are likely to have been underpaid their state pension as a result of their national insurance record not including the correct entitlement of home responsibilities protection, (b) responses have been received and (c) people have had their state pension increased as a result; and how much has been paid in arrears as of 30 January 2024.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The main corrections exercise for the historic Home Responsibilities Protection issue began in Autumn 2023. HMRC and DWP are currently working through the initial responses at this early stage in the exercise.

The Government will publish key management information on the exercise, established between the HMRC and DWP regularly, beginning in the coming months.


Written Question
High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge
Thursday 11th January 2024

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the fairness of the high income child benefit charge.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to managing the public finances responsibly. The High-Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) ensures that the Government supports the majority of families while keeping welfare expenditure sustainable.

The charge is calculated on an individual rather than household basis in line with other tax policy. If the HICBC was based on household income, this could mean finding out the incomes and relationships of individuals in all the households currently registered for Child Benefit. This would put disproportionate burdens on most Child Benefit claimants, who are not affected by HICBC and currently do not need to provide this information to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government therefore considers that the current approach remains proportionate.


Written Question
National Insurance Contributions
Wednesday 15th November 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people who have paid voluntary National Insurance contributions for one or more years are waiting to have those contributions credited to their National Insurance record; what the average waiting time is between paying voluntary National Insurance contributions and having them credited to a National Insurance record; and when he expects individuals to be able to view such contributions online.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Information on how many people have paid voluntary National Insurance contributions for one or more years and are waiting to have those contributions credited to their National Insurance record is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The average waiting time between a customer paying National Insurance contributions and having them credited to a National Insurance record is currently 12 working days, Class 3 allocations are currently being prioritised due to the Class 3 payment extension announcement.

Payments should show on customer records within 8 weeks of when a customer calls the NI helpline. If a customer makes a payment of voluntary National Insurance Contributions, the payment will automatically allocate into their National Insurance record when the money is cleared by HMRC’s banking system. It normally takes a day to then be visible for the customer to view. However, this could take up to 8 week if there is any kind of discrepancy that causes a rejection that requires further investigation.


Written Question
Treasury: Buildings
Tuesday 12th September 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found within their Department's estate.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Survey work is underway.


Written Question
Treasury: Ministers
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions a request for a meeting by an hon. Member was not agreed to by (a) a Minister and (b) their office on behalf of a Minister in the last 12 months.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

This information is not centrally collated and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Ministers will regularly seek to engage with hon. Members, whilst balancing wider Ministerial and Parliamentary responsibilities.


Written Question
Sewage: Waste Disposal
Thursday 15th June 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many sewage leaks were recorded within the estate managed by HMRC in the last twelve months.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

HMRC has not recorded any sewage leaks across its estate in the last twelve months.


Written Question
Sewage: Waste Disposal
Friday 26th May 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many sewage leaks have been recorded within their Department's estate in the last twelve months.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Treasury’s offices are managed by government property services providers, either the Government Property Agency, HM Revenue and Customs or the Cabinet Office. This includes wastewater management and therefore HM Treasury does not hold this information.