Platform 51

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Categories: money and debt, politics and parliament
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Platform 51’s opinion on the cuts in tax credits

A letter in today's Times

Platform 51 is one of the signatories to the following letter that appears in The Times today. The letter outlines the affects the cuts to tax credits will have on families. The letter has also been signed by 4children, Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice, Daycare Trust, Family Action, Gingerbread, Resolution Foundation and TUC.

Dear Chancellor,

Next month working families with two children lose an average of £10.50 per week of help with the cost of their childcare through tax credits. These families are already facing unprecedented pressure from rising prices and stagnating incomes. Recent research shows that pre-school childcare costs rose by 4.8 per cent in the past year. The cuts to tax credits mean the gap between incomes and expenditure will grow still wider for almost 500,000 hard-working families. This is the wrong tax rise at the wrong time for families.

The Welfare Reform Bill, now going through Parliament, has at its heart a desire to ensure that families are better off in work than on benefits. Reducing the support for childcare costs risks undermining this ambition now and in the future. We urge the Chancellor to reconsider the reduction in the Childcare Element of Working Tax Credit planned for April 1 and to use the Budget on March 23 to make an announcement which will be met with relief by families across Britain.