AROUND 460 Warrington families in part-time work and with children could lose around £4,000 a year from April, following a change to tax credit rules, according to MP Helen Jones.
The Warrington North MP is urging the Government to reconsider a little-noticed change to tax credit rules which means thousands of families will lose all of their working tax credits unless they can significantly increase their working hours.
It means that couples with children earning less than around £17,700 will need to increase the number of hours they work from a minimum of 16 to 24 hours per week or they will lose all their working tax credit of £3,870 per year.
Government figures revealed in Parliamentary answers show 275 households in Warrington North, 185 households in Warrington South and 212,000 households across the country, could lose out.
A recent survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development found that one in five organisations have cut back on the number of hours that people work as a result of the economic downturn, with just six per cent increasing them.
Ms Jones said: “This is a deeply unfair change from a Government that is increasingly out of touch with parents feeling the squeeze and struggling to juggle work and family life.
“Raising taxes and cutting spending too far and too fast has seen unemployment rise and the economy go into reverse, and many employers are cutting people’s hours.
“In this climate, very few people in part-time work will find be able to increase their hours by up to 50 per cent at the moment. For a couple with children losing around £4,000 a year, or £75 a week, from this change could mean going out to work makes no sense.
“It tells you everything you need to know about David Cameron and George Osborne that while the banks are getting a tax cut this year they are making life harder for parents in the squeezed middle who are working and trying to do the right thing.
“This tax credits bombshell is now just a few weeks away. For many families here in Warrington it means going out to work won’t pay and they’ll be better off on benefits. That makes no economic sense at all. The Government urgently needs to think again.”
AROUND 460 Warrington families in part-time work and with children could
lose around £4,000 a year from April, following a change to tax credit
rules, according to MP Helen Jones.
Families could lose £4,000 – MP
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
2 Comments
Some of us brought up children when there was no ‘working tax credit’ and managed to survive on one wage because we thought it was important to be at home with young children to teach them all they needed to know before starting school. (No free nursery places then either) It wasn’t easy, there were no luxuries, but it is possible and in the long term, better for the children. We certainly didn’t think of ourselves as being on the poverty line or ‘deprived’, just doing what was best and of course most were 2 parent families!
Unfortunately we have become wedded to the benefits culture, benefits are a way in which politicians can exert control over voters – vote for me and I’ll protect and increase your benefits, vote for the other lot and your benefits will be cut. Problem is, when the country runs out of money, the benefits will be cut no matter who is in power. It is interesting to note that when, for example, the winter fuel allowance was introduced, the cost to the taxpayer was £200 or so million, now it is well in excess of £2 billion and is paid to millionaires as well as those on modest means.
With regards to the economy, the growth that we had some years ago wasn’t real, it was based on debt, so to make comparisons between then and now is rediculous, and the sad thing is that the debt fuelled debt is now coming back to haunt us, not only us but future generations as well.
It is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black when a politician in a safe seat, being paid a reasonable salary, with a good pension to look forward to and who employs her husband on a decent salary accuses the current government of being out of touch. By all means it is right that she draws changes in benefits to people’s attention, but she does need to offer a credible alternative that would stand up to real scrutiny, and certainly not pretend to feel the pain of those who are struggling to make ends meet.