I presume that you're PAYE and not self employed or something like that? If you are PAYE then there is no onus on you to file income tax annual returns unless not doing so would result in your affairs getting out of date. Ultimately it's the individual's responsibility to ensure that his/her tax affairs are kept up to date. In many cases the processing of p45s, P60s, tax credits etc. by employers result in things being kept up to date correctly. However I personally would urge everybody to check their records (payslips, P60s, statements of tax credits etc.) to ensure that there are no discrepancies on an annual or more regular basis.
I seem to recall that there may have been some time limit on how far back tax can be reclaimed but I can't find anything authoritative on this. If you owed tax then I don't think that there is any time limit and you need to check of any penalties or interest may apply.