A ROSSENDALE dad who was told he could keep thousands of pounds of tax credits paid by mistake has called for a shake-up of the benefits system.

Russell Whittles, of Hill Street, Crawshawbooth, was wrongly sent £3,000 in tax credits and then told the issue had been quashed.

His MP Jake Berry has criticised the decision saying he has been approached by several other constituents who have complained about tax payers money being wasted.

The tax credit system has particularly come under fire during recent years, with a number of people saying they had been over paid and forced to pay the money back, leading to the creation of a support group "Tax Credit Casualties".

Mr Whittles, a 44-year-old architectural technician and father of one, said that despite hassling the tax office, which was sending him cheques, he was ignored.

He said: “I’m not the sort of person who can sleep at night if I know something is wrong, so during the whole thing I was telling the tax office there had been an error and I wanted to pay back the money.

“I received ten cheques in total worth £3,723 but I was only entitled to around £70. I knew something was very wrong so I organised to pay the money back because it was clearly not mine.

“Then I received a letter telling me I did not have to pay the money back and to be honest I did not think it was genuine.

“Since then my wife and I have said that I will not even apply for child tax credit or anything like that because I’m scared it will happen again.”

Russell sent part of the £3,723 back to the tax office only to find it reimbursed into his account days later.

He said the current tax credit system needs to be addressed and is hoping the new government will tackle internal errors as well as people trying to defraud the system.

Newly elected MP for Rossendale Jake Berry, said: “Since being elected as MP I have been contacted several times by members of the public regarding cases of of tax payers money being wasted.

“In these hardened ecomomic times it seems that even when someone tries to do the right thing, they are unable to do so.”