Minutes of the Tax Credits Consultation Group meeting
on 22 September 2005

Attendees

Representatives:

Liz Lathwood (CIOT)
Beth Lakhani (CPAG)
Kate Bell (One Parent Families)
Joyce Humphrey (TaxAid)
Jane Hayball (LGA, Greenwich)
Peter Gravestock (ATT
Pauline Hunter (Disability Alliance)
Fran Robinson (LGA))
David Kinloch (LGA)
Jane Moore (ICAEW)
Katie Lane (Citizens Advice)
Robin Williamson (LITRG)
Andy Platt (NAWRA)

HMRC:

Nigel Jordan (Chairman), Chris Fox, Irenka Timlin, Liz Welsh, Steve Murray, Tracy Kirkham, Vince Groome, Joanne Miller, Daphne Hooper, Alison Dyer (Secretary).

DWP:

Martin Vernon.

Apologies for absence were received from David Skinner

Contents

1. Minutes Of The Meeting On 13 July

Jane Moore asked that her apologies for not being able to attend the meeting on 13 July be recorded. The final version of the minutes will be issued shortly.

2. Working Groups – Updates

HMRC said that all the Working Groups were making good progress.

Fast-track

Martin Vernon said that a review of the end-to-end process has been completed and a report drafted. Following sign-off of the report a joint action plan to address the recommendations will be prepared. The report will be circulated to members of the Working Group and then to the whole Consultation Group. Nigel Jordan wished to record his thanks to David Petch (from whom Martin had taken over) for all the work he had done on the fast-track process.

Code of Practice 26

In a written update David Skinner said he was grateful to all of those who attended the Working Group meeting on 4 August and also to those who have commented on the notes of that meeting. The plan now is to explore all options and then seek the Paymaster General’s view on the way forward. Once the Paymaster General has given her view, a second meeting of the group will be arranged to discuss options in more detail – this is likely to be towards the end of October/beginning of November. Nigel added that a lot of work had been done since the meeting in August.

One representative said that the current version of Code of Practice 26 is out of date as it does not address 2005/06. A message on the website was suggested. Representatives were also concerned that the Code of Practice does not reflect the guidance on additional payments where there is a compliance investigation (page 3). HMRC said that they would check this and, if necessary, make the wording clearer.

Quality of correspondence

Chris Fox said that the aim was to identify standard letters by the end of September and establish what changes they might need to make to them. Priority will be given to text that is either wrong or unclear. Work is being done with the Tax Credit Office’s Customer Support Unit on paragraphs that are used regularly. Proposed solutions will be shared with the Group.

Website

Chris Fox said that the redesigned home page was published in July. A recent article from ICAEW’s Tax Faculty had said there are now better links and it is easier to find information. The next work will concentrate on reviewing all Frequently Asked Questions for technical accuracy and these should be updated by the end of October. The glossary on the e-portal will be published by the end of November.

Information on Children’s Tax Credit will be included shortly. Representatives asked if this could be publicised. HMRC said they could include it on the home page of the main website.

Helpline

Joanne Miller said that a meeting about Helpline training had been held with LGA representatives. The representatives will next attend a training session and then a report will be produced.

Better off calculations

A meeting with DWP has been arranged and further research needs to be done. This is very much a joint HMRC/DWP effort. David Kinloch offered to provide some feedback from a colleague.

Complaints and redress

A useful meeting was held on 6 September. Issues have been put into an action plan and proposals as to how issues will be addressed will be set out. Representatives asked about the revised version of Code of Practice 1. HMRC said that they would check what consultation took place. The main issues include accessibility of the complaints process, how complaints are identified and acknowledged, how they are handled and linked with correspondence within the Tax Credit Office. HMRC said it was important to capture the underlying causes of complaints.

Representatives said they thought the Redress Handbook contained good information on identifying complaints. HMRC said they would check whether this is still on the website.

One representative said that the Helpline should refer complaints to the team at Graeme House. HMRC confirmed that the mechanism to do this exists, after reference to a supervisor/team leader. HMRC said that they would check that this is happening and, if necessary, reinforce their guidance. HMRC also confirmed that calls to claimants, as well as calls from claimants, are recorded.
Post-meeting note: There are two processes for the Helpline to escalate complaints. If a caller complains about access to the Helpline or staff attitude, this is escalated to the Team Leader, then to the Operations Manager and ultimately to the Director’s Office. Complaints about delays in processing, for example, are referred to the team at Graeme House and the claimant receives a call back by the end of the following day. Calls progress chasing a breakdown in payments via the employer or a backdating request are escalated automatically to the team at Graeme House. Callers who ask to speak to a Team Leader should be put through to one. This is monitored by supervisors.

Appeals

E-mails about appeals have been answered and the process set out. A meeting is to be held shortly.

Backdating

A meeting has been held and a note of it prepared. This will be sent to the Working Group members and Nigel Jordan and then circulated to the Group. The main issue is the backdating of claims for Working Tax Credit only. Other issues include child care costs, asylum, disability and household breakdown. Solutions being considered would involve amending guidance and changing the IT.

Disability Living Allowance

HMRC said that they have gathered information by e-mail to assess the problems/issues and have summarised them.

Nigel Jordan asked the Group if they felt that having the working groups has been useful. It was generally agreed this has been productive. The aim would be to close some of the groups soon.

Sure Start Maternity Grants

One representative had sent in a paper about tax credits and claims for Sure Start maternity grants shortly before the meeting. This has been forwarded to DWP Social Fund policy officials and DWP will report back on this at the next meeting. One representative said that this was an area that James Wolfe (formerly DWP’s representative on the Group) looked into. It was suggested that a working group be set up to address this subject.

3. Customer Unit – Individuals

Liz Welsh, Assistant Director in HMRC’s Customer Unit, introduced herself and said that customer focus is at the heart of HMRC’s structure. There are four units – frontiers, individuals, large businesses and employers, and small and medium enterprises and employers. Liz said the Individuals Unit is currently taking shape. John Bone and Nick Chaplin will be looking at how HMRC can best work with the voluntary sector. Liz said key objectives are to understand the needs and behaviour of customers and to use this knowledge to improve the customer experience and ensure that it is understood within the Department. The Customer Unit would be looking at improvements in the longer term.

4. Support and Guidance for Claimants

Nigel Jordan had recently sent the Group an e-mail about making improvements to the forms and guidance that claimants receive. He handed out concept versions of two two-page checklists.

TC602(SN)

This would be issued to claimants with their award notices detailing what they need to check, what to do if their payments have gone down, how to appeal and changes they need to report.

TC603(SN)

This would be issued with the Renewals Pack. It is a checklist asking claimants to go through it to make sure they do all they need to renew their claim and the changes they need to report.

5. DWP Issues

The current Business Partnership Agreement between HMRC and DWP (which covers tax credits, Child Benefit and the Child Trust Fund) is being reviewed and is to be updated.

Martin said further information was awaited about pensioners claiming Child Tax Credit – this issue had been raised at the previous meeting and will be carried forward.

One representative was concerned about claims handled over the telephone and said the callback service seems to vary nationwide. Martin said he would check the Customer Management System callback.

6. Paymaster General’s Action Plan

Pro-active customer contact

HMRC said that this exercise will continue through 2005/06. Analysis of the first wave conducted in July/August has now been received.

A second wave of pilot activity will take place in October, and a third wave is likely to take place in February 2006. For these waves telephone calls will be made in-house (calls in the first wave were made by an outside contractor which meant that claimants needed to make a call to the Helpline themselves if they had any changes to report). Representatives were concerned about people being encouraged to report increases in income in February and asked if claimants would be told of the consequences of doing so (as this could lead to an award stopping and claimants not being entitled to additional tax credits payments). Nigel said he would consider this.

Website

As explained during the update of the working groups.

Review of communications

HMRC’s Communications and Marketing will be conducting a review of tax credits communications. This is due to be completed in March 2006. The review will cover the needs of claimants and changes to forms/guidance. HMRC said they will keep the Group informed about the review.

Outbound calls to claimants

HMRC said that they had telephoned claimants who had not renewed their claims to encourage them to do so by the 30 September deadline.

Helpline

Nigel said HMRC are considering consistency and accuracy of guidance.

HMRC are also reviewing their Helpline call type processes.

Voluntary sector

HMRC have had a meeting with Citizens Advice to discuss options for closer working.

National Benefits Project

HMRC are liaising with the National Benefits Project team which provides more self-service support to customers.

Recovery of overpayments

HMRC are looking at the options for suspending recovery of overpayments in cases where they are disputed (not cases of hardship).

7. Civil Partnerships

Representatives were concerned about penalties being imposed where same sex couples do not report their circumstances within three months of the Civil Partnership Act coming into force on 5 December 2005. HMRC said that for 2005/06 a same-sex couple would not be charged a penalty for failing to notify that they are part of a couple as long as they report the change on the renewals form which will be issued after 6 April 2006. From 2006/07 same-sex couples will be liable to penalties in the same way as heterosexual couples if they fail to notify HMRC that they have become part of a couple.

Representatives thought the compliance “technical overpayment” rules that have been published seem to benefit only non-compliant claimants, not compliant ones.

8. Relief For Pension Contributions Against Tax Credits Income

From 6 April 2006 there will no longer be any relief for pension contributions against tax credits income when new rules are introduced. One representative had said that amendments to the tax credits income regulations would be needed to ensure that claimants continue to get tax relief for their pension contributions. HMRC confirmed that the regulations will be amended in time for 6 April 2006.

9. Summer Edition Of “Tax Credits Update”

Under the heading “Changes? Let us know” on page 3 of the summer edition of the Tax Credits Update newsletter, there is an example of the effect of an increase in a couple’s household income on their tax credits. One representative said, while it was useful to include the example, it does not say whether the change in income was reported in-year or after the end of the year. It also does not demonstrate the effect of the £2,500 disregard. She had not been able to get to the figures shown. HMRC noted the representative’s comments and said it was unlikely that the example was based on a real case.

10. Any Other Business

Forms 64-8

Some representatives had been concerned about agents calling the Helpline and being told they could not access the Self Assessment system to check that an agent is acting for a claimant and a form 64-8 is held. HMRC said that a revised call type process had removed the instruction to access the Self Assessment system if no authorisation can be found on the tax credits system. This omission had now been remedied and the call type process published again and staff reminded of it.

Dates for meetings in 2006

Nigel said he and Alison will agree dates for meetings in 2006 and let the Group have these shortly.
Post meeting note: the dates for the meetings in 2006 will be 18 January, 15 March, 17 May, 12 July, 13 September and 15 November. All meetings will be held in the 3rd floor Conference Room, 22 Kingsway, London WC2 and will start at 10.00am.

Child care meetings

One representative said there used to be meetings with HMRC’s policy officials, including Denis Fitzgerald, on child care issues, but these meetings seemed to have petered out. HMRC said that they would look into this.
Post-meeting note: HM Treasury have said they are willing to hold a further meeting on child care in the New Year, if there is the demand for it

Child Benefit Helpline

One representative asked whether the Child Benefit Helpline provided information about tax credits. HMRC said they thought not, but were looking to improve the service of the Helpline. The representative also said that people were having trouble getting through on the Child Benefit Helpline. HMRC said that they would need to check this.
Post-meeting note: Advisers on the Child Benefit Helpline ask Child Benefit claimants if they are also getting tax credits – callers not already claiming tax credits are told they may be entitled to claim them and given the Tax Credits Helpline number.

The peak period for calls to the Child Benefit Helpline is between 11.00am and 3.00pm, but callers can usually get through outside these hours. August and September are the busiest months for the Helpline because it receives more calls from claimants about children continuing in full-time education or leaving school.

Letter to claimants with a young person in full-time education (TC644)
One representative asked when they could have the revised version of the letter scheduled to be sent to claimants with a young person in full-time education in October. HMRC said they would shortly be signing off the letter and then would circulate it to the Group.

11. Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 16 November 2005, starting at 10.00am, in the Conference Room, 3rd Floor, 22 Kingsway, London WC2.