Angela Crawley MP for Lanark and Hamilton East has demanded an apology from the Work and Pensions Minister for the tax credits failures enacted by Concentrix.

Concentrix, an American outsourcing company hired by HMRC to drive down the costs of tax credits, blanket lettered thousands of single parents suggesting they were cohabiting and giving them 30 days to provide evidence they were not.

The result for single parents across the UK has meant tax credits are sanctioned for several weeks, as discussed by MPs in the Westminster Hall debate today.

Ms Crawley also brought up a case of a constituent who had her tax credits payments stopped for six weeks over the Christmas and New Year period.

Commenting, Ms Crawley said:

“This Government owes many of my constituents and single parents across the country an apology.

“While I am delighted to see the Concentrix contract will not be renewed, it is important that we make sure the same mistakes are not able to be repeated.

“I have written to the DWP Minister Damian Green to make this point clear.

“In every occasion my office has dealt with on false accusations from Concentrix, the case has been dropped and their tax credits restored after several weeks of needless hardship.

“People who are on low incomes claim tax credits in order to feed their families, they are in many cases struggling to get by already – baseless allegations of fraud are damaging and have caused unnecessary hardship to too many people.”