Tax Credit Bombshell To Hit Hundreds In Neath

Nearly two hundred Neath households with children could lose around £4,000 a year from this April following a change to tax credit rules being introduced by the Government, a move Neath MP Peter Hain has said will make life harder for parents struggling to make ends meet.

Mr Hain is urging the Conservative-led government to reconsider a little noticed change to tax credit rules which means thousands of families will lose all their working tax credits unless they can significantly increase their working hours.
The 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.

Government figures have revealed that 185 households in Neath including 365 children could lose out. Across Wales 9,380 households with 18,985 children will be affected.

Mr Hain said, “This is a tax credits bombshell and it’s just around the corner. With ten people chasing every vacancy in the area and many employers cutting people’s hours how does this government expect people to increase their working hours?”

A recent survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development found that one in five organisations have cut back on the number of hours that people work as a result of the economic downturn, with just 6 per cent increasing them.