Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much tax credit was paid to working people of low income in each of the last three full years; what is their forecast for the current and next two years; and, for each year, what proportion of recipients were in full-time work.

The total amount of Tax Credit entitlement of recipients in each of the last three tax years can be found in Table 1.

Figures in Table 1 are presented in £ millions, to the nearest 1 million, in line with HM Revenue and Customs publications. Breakdowns of recipients out-of-work and in-work have also been provided for context. Breakdowns of recipients in full-time employment, or otherwise, are unavailable.

2012-13 is the most recent year available for which finalised statistics have been produced.

Figures have been taken from Table 1.1 of the online publication ‘Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics: Finalised Annual Awards 2012-13’.

Figures providing total expenditure forecasts for Tax Credits in the current tax year, and the two following years can be found in Table 2.

Figures in Table 2 are presented in £ billions, to the nearest 100 million, in line with Office for Budget Responsibility publications.

Breakdowns by employment status, full-time or otherwise are unavailable. These figures are taken from the ‘March 2015 Economic and Fiscal Outlook: Fiscal Supplementary Tables’ produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility and take into consideration Tax Credits as expenditure.