Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to monitor the effects of changes to tax credits on families with very low incomes.

The Government is making changes to Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit which will help put welfare spending on a more sustainable path. The Government wants to move from a low wage, high tax, high welfare society to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society. That means more emphasis on support to hardworking families on low incomes by reducing income tax through increases in the personal allowance and increasing wages, than on topping up low wages through tax credits.

Families with someone working currently on the minimum wage will benefit from the introduction of the National Living Wage from April 2016 which will be set at £7.20 per hour. The Government’s ambition is for the National Living Wage to reach over £9 by 2020. This would equate to a cash rise of £5,200 a year by 2020 for those who are currently working full time on the National Minimum Wage.

These changes will ensure that work will always pay more than a life on benefits, support will be focused more on those on the very lowest incomes and the system will be fairer upon those who pay for it, as well as those who benefit from it. Taking the welfare changes in the Budget together with the record increases in the income tax personal allowance and the introduction of the new National Living Wage, 8 out of 10 working households will be better off by 2017/18.