Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing income tax relief in cases where a portion of a taxpayer's income is used to subsidise the (a) costs of living and (b) course fees of another person who is in college or university education.

The Government has provided a significant package of support to help households and individuals with the cost of living, taken together this is worth over £94 billion over 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

There are a wide range of factors to take into consideration when introducing a tax relief. These include, but are not limited to: how effective the relief would be at achieving the policy intent, how targeted support would be, whether it adds complexity to the tax system and the cost.

Such an income tax relief would be regressive, as it would be of greatest benefit to those paying higher rates of tax while low-earning individuals with income below the Personal Allowance or the higher rate threshold would benefit less or not at all.

The Government does keep all aspects of the tax system under review.