A SINGLE mother has been hit with a £1,350 bill by the Inland Revenue as a result of its error, and feels punished by a system which was meant to support her family. Furthermore, Tara Hutton says the Child Support Agency (CSA) owes her more than £400 but has consistently failed to pay out for longer than a year, even sending her a bill for £2 in the meantime! Ms Hutton, 36, of RAF Valley has three boys, who are aged 11, eight and two and works at Penrhos Stanley as a clerical officer. Two years ago, the then Inland Revenue (IR), which now comes under HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), sent her a payment of £1,354.47. Ms Hutton got the impression this was money owed from previous Child Tax Credit underpayments, and believing that the IR system had got it right, proceeded to buy a cot and sofa. Two months ago, Ms Hutton was in for a shock when she received a bill stating she had been overpaid and was billed £1,354.47. She said: "I couldn't believe it. It is another worry to add to the pile. "As a single parent I am struggling, there is no way I can afford to pay this. You assume they know what they're doing when they send you that kind of money." Ms Hutton's issue with the CSA has also come about from what appears to be an error on their part. Upon gaining part-time employment in January 2004, she stopped claiming income support, and was entitled to the full amount of child maintenance payments made to the CSA by her former partner. However, it took the CSA several months to ensure she received the correct amount on a regular basis. Ms Hutton was then informed by the CSA that they owed her £402.09 which they said she would receive within six weeks. It is now almost a year later, and Ms Hutton has still not received the money owed to her, despite literally hundreds of phone calls and letters she claims she has made to them requesting it. They recently sent her a bill for £2.14, which she says "adds insult to injury", and then dropped her support payments by £8 without explanation. She said: "In a way I feel like I've been punished for getting a job. I hated being on benefits and I absolutely love my job but I'm giving it up now so I can become a full-time mum again. "I keep getting messed about with all these payments and I can't handle it anymore. "I've just been hit with a pile of letters and paperwork, so many mistakes have been made." With regard to Ms Hutton's £1,354 bill for past overpayments made to her by HM Revenue & Customs, a HRMC spokesman said: "An overpayment may arise for a number of reasons and where possible are collected from continuing awards. "Any customer who believes this may cause hardship should contact the tax credits office. "If the overpayment is a result of our error and it was reasonable for the claimant to think that it was right, we will not recover it." With regard to Ms Hutton's claim that she is owed more than £400 by the Child Support Agency, a CSA spokesperson said: "We cannot comment on individual cases. "The Child Support Agency works hard to ensure parents support their children financially and currently deals with over a million cases. "We are doing our utmost to shelter customers from IT problems which we are urgently working with our supplier to resolve. "Where this may impact on payments, the Agency will not write off debt and will seek any arrears due. "Last year, we collected £600m for children." | 
