Sign up to FREE email alerts from Liverpool Echo - Weekly Politics Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A single mum from Liverpool had her tax credits stopped - because benefits bosses said her daughter didn’t exist.

She is just one a number of single mums from across the city who have been thrown into sudden hardship in recent weeks after their child tax credits were wrongly stopped.

The women have been forced to rely on the generosity of neighbours, friends and family for food after their payments were suddenly halted by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and its fraud investigations agency Concentrix.

The ECHO has spoken to a number of women whose child tax credits were stopped, sometimes with no warning, on the back of flawed information about their personal circumstances.

One woman says was told by Concentrix that her second child did not really exist, while another was wrongly accused of living with a lesbian partner. Others have described how HMRC threatened to send in debt collection agencies to recover thousands of pounds and one woman was told to go to a food bank when she said she couldn’t feed her family.

All of the women spoken to by the ECHO are constituents of Garston and Halewood MP Maria Eagle , who is now calling on the Government to urgently step in and repay the women all of the lost money.

Rachel Williams, a single mum of two from Allerton , told the ECHO that the first she knew there was a problem was when her bank statement showed that her tax credit payments had fallen. When she phoned Concentrix, she was told they believed her second child didn’t exist. She says Concentrix refused to disclose its reason for doubting her daughter’s existence and HMRC has demanded that she repays £4,000 of tax credits.

Ms Williams said: “I thought I had done everything I had to do, then, in July, payments were cut. One child was taken off the claim.

“They said I lied to them, that the child doesn’t exist and that I owe them thousands of pounds. They say they are going to take the money back.”

She added: “They are saying for two years I have been fraudulently claiming even though I have a birth certificate.”

Another constituent, a single mum from Netherley with a full-time job, who wishes to remain anonymous, has told the ECHO that Concentrix has claimed she is living with a lesbian partner. When Concentrix provided a name for the alleged partner, it turned out to be the previous tenant at the same address who had left before the single mum moved in four years ago.

The Netherley mum said she received a letter on August 9 stating that her tax credits would be stopped just four days later.

She said: “They said my claim was fraudulent because they said there was a another female adult living at my address. I asked, ‘Are you saying I’m in a lesbian relationship?’ And they said ‘Yes.’”

The Netherley mum says she was required to prove she wasn’t in a relationship by sending in original bank statements, the tenancy agreement and utility bills.

She added: “It cost me over £100 in phone bills to speak to Concentrix and I had to send all the information by recorded delivery.

“I have been out of pocket by about £1,500. I asked them, ‘What should I do for money?’ They told me to use a food bank or to get a crisis loan from the Job Centre. But there is no such thing as a crisis loan.

“They said it’s not their problem, it’s my responsibility to prove it's not fraudulent. So it’s guilty til proven innocent.”

She said HMRC threatened to use a debt collection agency if she didn’t repay £5,200 by October 12, even though she told them her case was still under review.

She added: “I thought it was laughable, this isn’t happening to me. It’s only because I went to my MP that they got on with it.”

She said she expects her tax credits to be reinstated this week.

Another woman told the ECHO she was accused of living with her baby’s father, even though she had an injunction taken out against him and has never lived with him. She says she had to rely on neighbours for food after her tax credits were stopped. Another single mum, who works 33 hours a week, has run up £2,000 arrears with her child’s nursery because her child care allowance was stopped.

Ms Eagle told the ECHO: “These appear to be capricious decisions coming out of nowhere.

“Concentrix appear to have suddenly embarked on a flurry of unjustifiable tax credit disqualifications.

“Their behaviour has caused enormous financial hardship and worry to some vulnerable families.”

“I call on the Government to reinstate people’s entitlements and restore the missing payments in full to my constituents as soon as possible.”

A spokeswoman for HMRC told the ECHO that it sources information about tax credit claimants from other databases, such as those held by credit reference agencies.

The spokeswoman said: “Where there is a discrepancy between what we hold on a tax credits customer and the data we receive from third parties it is right that we carry out checks to ensure the claimant is not being overpaid.”

She said that HMRC has redeployed 150 of its own staff so that customers can get through to advisers and resolve any issues about their claim.

She added: “Payments that have been suspended will begin again as soon as possible - normally within four working days, if not sooner. Any money due to customers will also be paid back.”

A Concentrix spokesperson said the company acts in accordance with policies and procedures set out by HMRC. He added: “We recognise that the re-evaluation of individual tax credits claims can be difficult for all concerned. We adopt a rigorous process at every stage to ensure we manage this process responsibly.”

The Government has already told Concentrix that its contract to check tax credit applications will not be renewed when it expires next May.