TAX credit claimants are reminded they only have one week to renew or risk having their payments stopped.

Rachel McLean, HMRC’s interim Director General of Customer Services, said: “We’ve made some really helpful improvements this year to our online and app services to support our customers. We know life can be hectic so the start and stop feature allows customers to begin and complete their renewal on a day and time convenient for them.

“It’s fantastic that 32,000 people have used our app and 733,000 customers have already renewed their tax credits online. I urge customers in the North West who have yet to renew their tax credits to do so as soon as possible, thereby avoiding their payments being stopped. The 31 July deadline is fast approaching.”

Online help and information on renewing tax credits is available at www.gov.uk and via HMRC’s customer service Twitter feed @HMRCcustomers. Support is also available on the tax credits helpline.