A FAMILY has been left relying on food banks and handouts to survive after their child tax credit was stopped due to red tape.

Alan Smith and his partner Yasmin were forced to resubmit a claim for child tax credits after Alan’s 16-year-old brother Luke moved inwith them.

The £120-a-week child benefits for their two sons, aged one and two, have been on hold while the claim is resolved.

Three months on, the situation has still not been resolved.

It means Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs owes them about £2,000, but more distressingly, they have had to resort to foodbanks and borrow money from familymembers to pay their bills.

Mr Smith, 22, of Radvald Chase, Stanway, said: “It has left me and my partner and three children under 18 with no finances coming in.

“The HMRC keeps changing its story – first it said it had received the birth certificate and it was on the correct person’s desk.

“I called two weeks later and it had been lost it in the post somewhere.

They asked me to send a new one out.

“It has been 12 weeks and still nothing has happened.

“This morning they told me they haven’t got any record of a birth certificate.

“The birth certificate went out recorded delivery, first class.

They do know about it because it had to be signed for.”

Mr Smith said he was concerned his children could be taken away from him if the situation is not resolved.

He had to leave his last job in a care home due to a problem with his heart.

He hopes to return to start a new job in the coming weeks but has been forced to rely on handouts.

He said: “We are having to rely on food banks and friends and family to pay bills.”

The Trussell Trust, which runs 420 foodbanks across the country, said it handed out food to 1,084,604 people, including 396,997 children, last year.

It said 44 per cent of recipients had asked for help because of changes or delays to benefits.

A spokesman for HM Revenue & Customs said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases.

“If we make a mistake we aim to put it right quickly and apologise.”