Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21278, what differentiates the types of tax credit claim adjustment cases worked by Concentrix and by HM Revenue and Customs.

Since the beginning of the contract between SYNNEX-Concentrix and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), in November 2014, to 11 September 2016, Concentrix has adjusted around 103,000 cases. HMRC does not hold information on how many are full adjustments or partial adjustments. The total savings in Annually Managed Expenditure have been £284.1 million since commencement of the contract in November 2014.

As of 12^th September 2016 there are currently 2197 applications for Mandatory Reconsiderations of a Concentrix tax credit decision awaiting determination.

HMRC has received the following volume of Mandatory Reconsiderations relating to tax credit decisions made by Concentrix since January 2016:

The total number of Mandatory Reconsiderations received is about 1.6% of all Concentrix decisions made.

The number of independent tribunal cases that have been received challenging Mandatory Reconsiderations of tax credit decisions by Concentrix in each month since the contract began have been:

The total number of tribunal appeals received is about 0.08% of all decisions Concentrix made in the same period.

HMRC and Concentrix have the same target for processing Mandatory Reconsiderations. Both HMRC and Concentrix inform customers that they have 30 days to submit a Mandatory Reconsideration after receipt of their award notice. After receipt of the request for a Mandatory Reconsideration, HMRC and Concentrix aim to deal with them in 42 days. This time period includes any time that it takes to request and receive further information from the claimant.

Concentrix currently reviews a number of tax credit case types on HMRC's behalf. Specifically Concentrix looks at cases where there is a potential undeclared partner, or potential inaccuracies with work and hours and/or child care charges. HMRC staff carry out a wider range of checks based on a different set of parameters and risk factors.

Since the beginning of the contract, the average time taken by Concentrix to conduct Mandatory Reconsiderations for tax credits decisions is 23 days.

The shortest time for dealing with Mandatory Reconsiderations was 6 days in 2014/15, 1 day in 2015/16 and 5 days in 2016/17.

The longest time for dealing with Mandatory Reconsiderations was 261 days in 2014/15, 330 days in 2015/16, 122 days in 2016/17.

As discussed during the responses on the floor of the House on 14 September regarding this issue, HMRC is no longer passing new cases to Concentrix. Concentrix is instead working to improve the service it provides to claimants and to resolve outstanding cases.