SANDWELL TOPS WEST MIDLANDS LEAGUE 25.3 % OF WORKERS IN WORK RECEIVING CHILD AND WORKING TAX CREDITS

444,000 working families (18.9% of the total) receive child and working tax credits worth £3,335 per annum to top up household income-worth £1,449 million

The 2009 GMB Congress at Blackpool today was told that there are 27,800 workers in Sandwell who receive child and working tax credits (as at April 2009). These workers are 25.3% of those of working age in employment who live in the region. They received an average payment of £3,756 per annum (see note 1 below).This puts Sandwell at the top of the West Midlands Region league for the percentage of workers who receive child and working tax credit.

Second in this regional league is Wolverhampton where 20,400 (22%) workers receive child and working tax credits. Third is Stoke-on-Trent with 22,600 (21.8%) and fourth is Walsall with 22,700 (21.5%). The figures for each region are shown in the table below.

In the West Midlands Region there are a total of 444,000 workers who receive child and working tax credits. This is 18.9% of all those of working age in employment in the region and the average payment was £3,335 per annum, a total of £1,449m. For the UK as a whole there are 4,713,400 workers who receive child and working tax credits.  This is 16.8% of all those of working age and in employment and the average payment was £3,201 per annum. It adds £14,585m to the income of these families.

These figures are from a GMB analysis of official figures in a report that was published at the GMB Congress which begins today 14^th June at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. See notes below for sources. The data for each local authority district and parliamentary constituency area in the UK is set out at the foot of the national release on this issue on the GMB website www.gmb.org.uk

In-work families with child and working tax credits in each local authority in the North West

Joe Morgan, GMB Regional Secretary, speaking at Blackpool said:  “In an ideal world these benefits would not be needed. But one in five working families need over £3,000 to top up meagre pay packets to properly support their children.

Tax credit support is crucial and GMB will not stand idly by and let any party cut the incomes of nearly 5 million of the poorest working families in our country. 

The Conservative and Liberal Democrats must scrap their plans to top slice tax credits and all parties must keep their promises to retain tax credits. We will write to every candidate to ensure they support the commitments of the main party leaders to retain tax credits.”

Kate Green, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:“Tax credits are essential to family security. It’s wrong that subprime jobs without decent hours and pay leave so many families supported by tax credits, but the answer is better pay, not scrapping support. We should be taking families away from tax credits by making sure employers pay fair wages, not taking tax credits away from families when they are essential.”

- Ends -

Contact: Joe Morgan, GMB Regional Secretary on 0121 5504888 or 07968 064465, Steve Pryle, GMB Press Officer on 07821 289880 or Rose Conroy 07974 251823.

Notes to editors

1        The above figures are from a GMB analysis of official figures which shows the numbers receiving child and working tax credit in each area of the UK that figure as a percentage of all workers who live in the area and the average amount paid in 2006/7. The amount paid per annum is drawn from the latest available data. Ms Kate Green Director of the Child Poverty Action Group addressed the GMB congress today and spoke to the CEC Special report ‘Raising the kids: Stop in-work poverty’ which was published at the GMB congress today.

2 The footnotes in the table above are as follows

·         Child and Working tax credit statistics, geographical analysis, April 2009.   In work figures calculated by subtracting 'out of work' figures from the total recipient figures

·         Calculated as a percentage of working age people in employment from the October 2007-September 2008 Annual Population Survey

·         Child and working tax credits statistics, finalised awards 2006-2007

3        The Tory party position on tax credits was reported in the Guardian on Friday 28^th March 2008 as follows. “Greg Clark, a shadow minister regarded as an intellectual driving force behind the Tory leadership, declared that a Conservative government would aim to dismantle tax credits in the way Margaret Thatcher had cut back state subsidies to industry.

"We need to question it," Clark told a Tory seminar of the tax credits system. "The question is as important as the question about nationalised industries in the 1970s. Then we looked at subsidies for British Steel, how they could not be competitive and needed a permanent subsidy. That became accepted. But it was challenged. We should not be less ambitious about people who are in poverty."

The remarks by Clark, a former Tory director of policy who is now the shadow charities minister, are the party's strongest attack on tax credits. At a seminar on equality and fairness, he said the credits masked poverty rather than tackling it.                                                                                                                   

4        Working adults living in the UK with at least one child can claim Child and Working Tax credit under certain guidelines. If you have at least one child and an annual income of less than £16,040 you are entitled to a maximum £2,235 per child regardless of the child’s age. This figure tapers up to a maximum income of £58,000.There is also a family element of £545 on top for each household. There is a working tax credit for those who work more than 16 hours a week and have a low income. Those part of a family that qualify are able to claim a basic element of £1,890 per year. For example a single  parent  aged 30 with 2 children of school age working 37 hours a week on the minimum wage of £5.73 per hour (household income of £11,024) not on Income Support or other benefits and not paying any childcare is entitled to £4,210 in child tax credits and £2,292 in working tax credits giving a total of £6,502. This is according to the HMRC calculator(http://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/Qualify/DIQHousehold.aspx).