1 DECEMBER 2001, Page 40

Brown's tax credit fiddle

From Mr Stephen Magill

Sir: Frank Field (`Blind eye to fraud', 24 November) is right to say that the Working Families Tax Credit bill will surge as claimants understand how to work the system. All that is needed to claim this benefit is a child and a job of at least 16 hours a week, employed or self-employed. One case that crossed my desk when working in the benefits system was that of a woman whose 'job' was doing her mother's shopping and washing. The only evidence required of this employment, before handfuls of taxpayers' cash were doled out, was a letter from her employer (her mother) confirming this.

Stephen Magill

Huddersfield. West Yorkshire