Tax Credit Office: Costs

Mr. Sanders
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the administration costs of the Tax Credit Office were in each of the last five years.

Mr. Timms
HM Revenue and Customs delivers tax credits through a number of its business units including tax credit office (TCO). For information relating to the full costs of managing and paying the child and working tax credits, I refer the hon. Member to the annual departmental trust statements published at:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-dep-acct0708.pdf

and the Comptroller and Auditor General’s standard reports available at:

www.nao.org.uk/publications.aspx

TCO staffing costs for the last five years are shown in the following table.

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|£ million                                                                              |
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|2003-04                                                                                |61.28|
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|2004-05                                                                                |73.74|
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|2005-06                                                                                |61.86|
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|2006-07                                                                                |184.30|
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|2007-08                                                                                |87.64|
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|1 Staff costs increased from 2006-07 when operational support staff transferred to TCO.|
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