Online Tax Credit Service remains offline... sort of

Back in December 2005 people may remember that it was necessary for the Government to shut down the online tax credit service due to massive organised fraud which targeted the inherent weaknesses of the system. That system, as Dawn Primarolo confirmed yesterday, remains down 13 months on. It is not even clear if it will ever re-open as a service either. According to Primarolo,

"HMRC are developing a series of strengthening measures for the service and will consider whether to re-open it when this work provides the necessary assurance."

Reading between the lines, if they've not even considered re-opening it then what they've been "developing" can't be particularly good - even in their own opinion, let alone independent white hats who I presume they would use for penetration and security testing.

However, whilst it remains down and pages inform users that registration is suspended "whilst work continues on the enhancements to ensure that these services remain secure", you can still actually register for the service here. Very odd.