I know im probably preaching to the converted, but I need a blooming rant..

Just come off the phone from tax Credits, as looked at an award letter and they are paying CTC for two children who cli shouldnt be getting CTCs for..

Gave all the infom and informed them that she has not been receiving CB for over two years for one (she was his guardian, no longer is) and over 12 months for the other (claiming JSA in own right)..

Tc's tell me that we will need to contact CB Centre to get exact date that CB stopped for both parties.. Now perhaps im wrong.. but isn't the Inland Revenue responsible for both departments...?

Why cant one just access the details of the other..? And they wonder why there are so many overpayments...!

No wonder this Country os going to the dogs..

In Kerr (AP) v. Department for Social Development (Northern Ireland) HL, Baroness Hale stated at paras 62 and 63.

“What emerges from all this is a co-operative process of investigation in which both the claimant and the department play their part. The department is the one which knows what questions it needs to ask and what information it needs to have in order to determine whether the conditions of entitlement have been met. The claimant is the one who generally speaking can and must supply that information. But where the information is available to the department rather than the claimant, then the department must take the necessary steps to enable it to be traced.

If that sensible approach is taken, it will rarely be necessary to resort to concepts taken from adversarial litigation such as the burden of proof. The first question will be whether each partner in the process has played their part. If there is still ignorance about a relevant matter then generally speaking it should be determined against the one who has not done all they reasonably could to discover it. As Mr Commissioner Henty put it in decision CIS/5321/1998, "a claimant must to the best of his or her ability give such information to the AO as he reasonably can, in default of which a contrary inference can always be drawn." The same should apply to information which the department can reasonably be expected to discover for itself”.

Regards
Paul