Forum Home → Discussion → Income support, JSA and tax credits → Thread
More on our friends Concentrix
... a 19-year-old single mother from West Yorkshire, received a letter from the company saying her child tax credits would be cancelled.
“Basically they were accusing me of being married to a 74-year-old bloke that used to live here way before I did, saying that it’s a normal thing for my kind of age,” she said.
“When I spoke to the council, they said he was deceased and died on 5 July 2016,” Ms McKenzie added.
“Then they said ‘Well, you still need to get him to make contact with us’. And I said ‘Well, heaven doesn’t have opening hours, so what do you want me to do about that?’.”
there was also this from almost a year ago
Single mum has benefits stopped because HMRC thinks local SHOP is her boyfriend
.. if it wasn’t so serious it might be funny!
and this from Frank Field
http://www.frankfield.co.uk/latest-news/articles/news.aspx?p=1021327
Only two client appts for TC alleged L/T cases today!
there was also this from almost a year ago
Single mum has benefits stopped because HMRC thinks local SHOP is her boyfriend
.. if it wasn’t so serious it might be funny!
and if you look further in the mirror, the same woman was then told she was also in a relationship with her landlord, and with a previous tenant
and another woman was told she was in a relationship with her brother, who of course uses the family address as his address even though he’s away in the army….
and this recent post where the claimant was alleged to be cohabiting with Joseph Rowntree -
but some good news:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/sep/13/reign-of-terror-tax-credit-company-loses-hmrc-contract
they’re being sacked…
Response from Concentrix:
“We have operated professionally at all times and within the guidance set by HMRC. The HMRC statement not to renew the contract attacks our professional credibility, and the commitment of our staff who have performed determinedly, despite the issues with HMRC policies and procedures.
In addition, throughout the contract, Concentrix has employed good hard-working people within the UK, at Concentrix expense, in order to staff phone lines and handle customer calls which were agreed by HMRC and were based on HMRC assumptions.
To be clear, we have answered significantly more calls than planned with HMRC. Throughout the contract we have not been incentivised to make wrong decisions for claimants and in-fact would be penalised heavily for failure to adhere to HMRC policies and procedures.
Through the term of the contract we are pleased to have saved the taxpayer nearly £300m in authentic confirmed tax fraud and error which otherwise would have cost the taxpayer money.”
yeah right, they would say that wouldn’t they…...
i can see there might be an issue if more calls than contracted for, but they wouldn’t have had the calls if they’d got it right first time…...applying a brain cell is usually useful when dealing with people, and clearly they don’t…
“Through the term of the contract we are pleased to have saved the taxpayer nearly £300m in authentic confirmed tax fraud and error which otherwise would have cost the taxpayer money.”
Wasn’t the contract to save £1bn? So three quarters of the way into the project they have managed less than one third of the savings they promised. That might explain why they have been so drastically overreaching lately (and maybe why HMRC couldn’t wait to fire them)
Will the demise of Concentrix make any difference? HMRC were making equally poor decisions before and will, no doubt, continue to do so.
My 1st TC L/T case today - accused of living with previous tenant of property (private rented). I wonder what the reason will be in this afternoons case?
In their response, Concentrix point out that they adhere to HMRC procedures etc. This is the same excuse regularly trotted out by Atos and Maximus (“We are only adhering to DWP guidelines etc”). To what extent do outsourcing companies like these get brought in purely so that DWP/HMRC can pass the buck when their ill-conceived programmes go belly-up?
Apparently there is to be a special MPs surgery at the Commons tommorrow am where they can take cases direct to HMRC to progress/resolve.
From the BBC today:
Concentrix: ‘Suicidal calls’ made to tax credits firm
PS - see also see the new revben blog post: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/10264/
Concentrix are reported to have laid off 150 temp workers according to a press release from the PCS union. Comes just two weeks after Treasury Minister confirmation that the same number of HMRC staff had been redeployed to help manage backlog of mandatory reconsiderations.
Will the reconsideration backlog get sorted quicker now the chair of the Treasury Committee has asked for weekly updates from HMRC?
‘An important issue is the speed with which you can work through the backlog. Given the huge amount of distress that is being caused to individuals across the counrtuy who are still waiting for a review of Concentrix’s decisions, I would be grateful for a weekly update on HMRC’s progress in reducing the backlog’