Child Tax Credit: Northern Ireland

(asked on 9th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many households in Northern Ireland are subject to the two-child limit in relation to Child Tax Credits; and how many children in total live in those households.


Answered by
Robin Walker Portrait
Robin Walker
This question was answered on 18th March 2021

While welfare and employment are devolved matters in Northern Ireland, we have been working closely with the NI Executive throughout the pandemic and have provided substantial additional resources to enable it to respond to the crisis. The Executive holds no statistical information on the impact of welfare programmes, but there is no doubt that it is committed to combating poverty via the Anti-Poverty and Child Poverty strategies, which were agreed to in the New Decade, New Approach agreement.

A range of additional support measures are available for the people of NI through the Finance Support Service, including: the Universal Credit Contingency Fund short-term living expenses grant; the Discretionary Support self-isolation grant; the short-term benefit advance; the Social Fund budgeting loan; and the Social Fund Sure Start Maternity grant. These are in addition to the welfare mitigations schemes in place.

The UK Government has injected £9.3 billion to strengthen the welfare system. Increased Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit allowances will benefit those most in need by up to £1,040 this financial year.

Our long-term ambition is to tackle poverty through a reformed system that works with the labour market to encourage people to move into work wherever possible. Since 2010 in the UK there are: 200,000 fewer people in absolute poverty; 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty; and 100,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty. Moreover, absolute poverty rates have fallen in every region.

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