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Welfare Reform and Incapacity Benefit

I am afraid that I recognise precisely the issue that the hon. Gentleman raises. In recent months, a number of people have pointed out to me at my constituency advice centre that, on suspecting that they had received an overpayment of tax credits, they had contacted the Inland Revenue, said that they wanted to repay the money and were told that there was no problem. However, they were contacted six or nine months down the line and told that there had indeed been an overpayment. Of course, by that stage the Inland Revenue is already recovering the money automatically. When the recovery takes place in-year, there is no protection of people’s income in the way that the money is withdrawn. That is causing a lot of problems for people on low incomes.