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 Sinn Féin MP Mickey Brady has said Revenue and Customs must get control of the Concentrix fiasco.

The Newry and Armagh representative said the mishandling of the whole debacle had left families in dire straits.

“Our office has been inundated with calls from worried constituents concerned about delays in their Tax Credits since it was announced that Revenue and Customs would not be renewing Concentrix’s contract,” he said.

“To make matters worse Concentrix has now announced that they are sending huge numbers of cases back to Revenue and Customs, which is causing an enormous back log and lengthy delays in dealing with people’s cases.

“This is simply unacceptable.  Huge numbers of families, particularly single parent families, rely on Tax Credits to supplement their incomes.  We are getting calls from people who don’t know where to turn; they can’t pay bills, can’t afford heating, can’t put diesel in the car; this is hitting already stretched families very hard. 

“We are doing our best to check up on cases for people but the north ranks so lowly on the British Government’s list of concerns that there isn’t even a Tax Credits office here where people can meet face to face with those processing their cases; we are having to ring Britain to check up on cases and as this issue is only affecting the north staff over there do not seem to grasp how urgent and serious a situation this is. 

“Revenue and Customs have ultimate responsibility for Tax Credits so they need to sort this out as a matter of urgency.  This is not some clerical backlog to be worked through, these are people’s lives they are messing with, people on the breadline who simply cannot afford these delays.”