Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has conducted research on the effect of a suspension of child tax credit payments when a change in circumstance has been assumed.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regularly carries out checks on tax credits awards, including Child Tax Credit, to reduce error and fraud. These checks identify potential risks with ongoing tax credits claims.

Depending on the level of risk found, HMRC may ask customers for more information about their claim and circumstances, or a compliance team might undertake a full examination.

In most cases, HMRC does not suspend the payment of tax credits payments during the check. It only does this where information held indicates that this is a reasonable step to prevent payments being made in error. In these cases, if a customer demonstrates that the claim is correct, HMRC reinstates payments immediately.

In these circumstances, making further payments would therefore result in increased overpayments of tax credits overall which the customer would have to repay.

HMRC has not carried out research into the specific aspect of the tax credits system related to suspension of Child Tax Credits.