Couples face losing working tax credit
Figures revealed in answers to parliamentary questions show 250 couples with children in part-time work in the Rother Valley could lose around £4,000 a year from this April, following a change to tax credit rules being introduced by the Government.
This change means that couples with children earning less than around £17,700 will need to increase the number of hours they work from a minimum of 16 to 24 hours per week or they will lose all their working tax credit of £3,870 per year.
Raising taxes and cutting spending too far and too fast has seen unemployment rise and the economy go into reverse, and many employers are cutting people’s hours. A recent survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development found that one in five organisations have cut back on hours as a result of the economic downturn, with just six per cent increasing them.
With very few people in part-time work being able to increase their hours by up to 50 per cent at the moment, for a couple with children losing around £4,000 a year, or £75 a week, this change could mean going out to work makes no sense. This tax credits bombshell is now just a few weeks away, so I hope that the Government will think again.
The Government’s Health and Social Care Bill suffered further setbacks last week when yet more professional healthcare bodies – the Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health Managers and Community and Health Practitioners and Health Visitors Association – joined the list of experts opposing the Bill.
Having lost the support of the medical community and the British public, it is time the Prime Minister realised how unpopular this Bill is and how much damage it could do to our NHS. The British people care deeply about their health service and they don’t want to see it damaged by an expensive, unnecessary top-down reorganisation that would leave patients paying the price.
A Big Lottery Fund grant of £8,844 has recently been made to Aughton Primary School. The school will use this funding to provide various activities for families to take place during and after school and in the summer holidays. Congratulations to everyone involved.
The Big Lottery Fund are also helping fund the Big Jubilee Lunch initiative across the UK on Sunday 3rd June, when neighbours are encouraged to get together in their communities. For more visit www.thebiglunch.com.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Dinnington
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.