Child Benefit Procedural Guide

This is very interesting. I admit I have never heard of the CBPG. I would suggest that the assertion that it has existed in draft form for over 5 years is inherently implausible and might well indicate a disingenuous use of s22. I would be very interested to see what the information commissioner makes of your request.

I don’t if HMRC make a habit of this sort of thing? The guide on how tax credits handle overpayments has been missing in action since 2014. (Before the page disappeared entirely, it said “This leaflet is being updated and is temporarily unavailable. A new version will be published soon” ).

I suppose the thing about writing about how you “handle” overpayments is that you would have to actually decide how you do handle them before you write about doing so. As I have seen no evidence in the past decade that they have even the vaguest idea of what it is they’re supposed to be doing on a daily basis then anyone tasked with writing about what they’re supposed to be doing and how it should work in a range of scenarios is probably quite poorly by now.

for anyone who is interested that have now released 8 pages of the CBPG.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/guidance_to_decision_makers_on_t#outgoing-537429