HC Deb 11 May 2004 vol 421 c284W
Mrs. Brooke

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the stoppage or reduction of payment of the child care element of the working tax credit in response to earlier overpayments of child tax credit. [171646]

Dawn Primarolo

None. In a case where both working and child tax credit have been awarded and the child care element is payable, the family would be entitled to the maximum amount of child tax credit so we would not expect the situation to arise.

Tax credit awards are adjusted during the year so as to pay out the right amount for the year and prevent overpayments arising. The Inland Revenue's approach to dealing with tax credit overpayments is set out in a Code of Practice, "What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?", available on the Inland Revenue's website or as a leaflet.