Some families are still waiting

More than a million families have missed the deadline to claim their full child tax credit, according to opposition ministers.

Those eligible for the new tax credit have until Monday 7 July to submit their forms or they will miss out on the full year's entitlement.

Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat MP, said figures suggest a million families will miss the midnight deadline, leaving the Treasury with fuller coffers than planned.

"We now have a situation where the Treasury is sitting on over half a billion pounds which actually belongs to one million families," said Mr Webb.

But the Treasury dismissed the figures, saying the number of people who had not yet applied and those whose forms were already in the system accounted for about half a million outstanding claims.

Too complex?

Mr Webb's views were echoed by the Conservatives who said about 10% of all families with children have not made a claim, due to the complexity of the system.

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David Willetts, shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, is demanding a suspension of the deadline and calling on ministers to not leave behind the families they promised to help.

"Everyone's attention has been on the families that have applied for the Child Tax Credit but have to wait weeks to receive it," said Mr Willetts.

"I am shining the light on the families who haven't even applied for the tax credit in the first place."

'Catastrophically low'

All families with children and an income up to �58,000 a year (or up to �66,000 a year if they have a child under one year old) are eligible to claim for the child element of the new tax credits.

Claims received after 7 July can still be backdated for up to three months, but claimants who submit their forms beyond this date will not be eligible for a full year's award.

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But Mr Willetts wants the deadline abolished.

"Ministers should allow people who claim at any point within the current tax year to have their claim backdated to April.

"That might help increase the level of take-up from catastrophically low to just about respectable."

Unacceptable

According to figures from the paymaster general Dawn Primarolo, quoted by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, there should be about 5.2m child tax credit claims in payment.

But they say the Inland Revenue has received under 4.25m claims and only 4m are actually in payment.

That means at least half a billion pounds will be left in treasury coffers, according to Liberal Democrat figures.

"The government estimated that six million families were eligible.

"To have one sixth of this number left out in the cold is unacceptable," said Mr Webb.