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The Inland Revenue is to run the Child Benefit Centre in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The idea, according to Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is to enable child benefit to be administered alongside the new tax credit for families with children to be introduced in 2003.
The Inland Revenue is to run the Child Benefit Centre in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The idea, according to Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is to enable child benefit to be administered alongside the new tax credit for families with children to be introduced in 2003.
Although the Government protests to the contrary, it does not seem unreasonable to see this move as a precursor to taxing child benefit. Child benefit is unrelated to the children's tax credit, it does not have to be claimed each year, and its operation currently runs quite smoothly. Dawn Primarolo says that in bringing child benefit under the Revenue umbrella, parents will have a single point of contact. However, there is rarely a need to have dealings with the Child Benefit Centre, since it automatically churns out a letter advising recipients of the annual rates, and these only vary according to the number of children in a family. The benefit to the Revenue, of course, is that it will know who receives what, which would be useful if and when child benefit falls in the tax net.
(Source: Department for Work and Pensions press release dated 25 June 2001.)
