A LIVER transplant patient whose tax credits were halted by the Inland Revenue says the same organisation is now blocking his attempts to get back into work.

Former pub landlord and builder Norman Power says he is stuck in a Catch-22 situation caused by "bureaucratic madness" at the Revenue.

Norman, 56, of Tadcaster, told last month how he had been virtually abandoned by the welfare state after undergoing the transplant and four other operations in less than two years - the most recent at the beginning of March.

He said his £82 a week Disability Living Allowance and a £50 a week working tax credit payment had both been halted, and the Revenue was also asking for the return of almost £9,000 in alleged overpayments of working tax credit and child tax credit over the past three years.

He said today that after almost eight weeks, he and his wife, Lesley, had still not received a reply to their appeal against that decision.

Because of financial pressures caused by the benefits and tax credits decisions, he now wanted to go back to work, even though his doctor was not keen on him returning yet.

He said he had been offered part-time work as a self-employed building inspector, making use of his old building skills.

He said while he was still in pain, a good proportion of the work was office-based and he believed he could cope with the limited amount of walking required the rest of the time.

He said he had applied to the Revenue for a "certificate of exemption," enabling him to submit a monthly invoice for hours worked and expenses incurred.

But he had been told he could only receive such a certificate once he had supplied audited accounts of his earnings through self-employment over the last three years.

He had explained this was impossible because he had been sick over that period, although he could provide documents showing how much he had received in benefits, and could also supply accounts for the previous 20 years."But they just didn't want to know," he claimed.

He said without such a certificate, he could only be paid with tax deducted at source, but that would not be an option for a job where he would be meeting all his own expenses, such as fuel and equipment, from day one.

"It's frustrating," he said. "I need to go back into work because of their decision on tax credits, but can't go back because of the same organisation's decision over the certificate. It's a Catch-22 situation. It's bureaucratic madness."

A spokesman for the Revenue, now known as HM Revenue and Customs, said he could not discuss individual cases, but stressed that its local office would be pleased to assist any customer with queries, and that there was also an individual right of appeal.

Updated: 10:09 Thursday, April 20, 2006