11-Feb-2012 - Tax change 'to cost families £4k'

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11 February 2012 Last updated at 08:07 GMT Tax credit change could cost families £4k a year - Labour Low income families with parents in part time work could lose nearly £4,000 per year because of a change in tax credits, the Labour Party says. Parents can currently qualify for Working Tax Credit if they do at least 16 hours per week. Up to 200,000 families could be hit from April when the threshold is raised to 24 hours per week, the official data highlighted by Labour shows. The Treasury said new measures to help working families were being introduced. Treasury Minister Chloe Smith said the policy was part of "what we have to do as a country to get out of the enormous deficit mess left by Labour". She told BBC News the policy was not unfair because it "levels two parent households with what lone parents have to do", adding that Labour would have to decide whether or not they agree with that. Figures obtained by Labour's Treasury spokeswoman Cathy Jamieson show 212,000 households - with a total of 470,000 children between them - could lose the £3,870-a-year credit because of the change. The region with the most households likely to be affected is said to be London (46,205), followed by the North West (26,845), West Midlands (22,675) and Yorkshire and nfl headset the Humber (20,225). BBC political correspondent Naomi Grimley reports that shadow ministers are suggesting it might be difficult for parents to increase the amount of time they work as many companies were cutting employees' hours because of the tough economic climate. 'Nothing fair' In a speech to shopworkers' union Usdaw later, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves will describe the party's findings as a "tax credits bombshell". Ahead of that she told the BBC it had taken Labour some time to go through the figures and talk to people who would be affected by the changes. She said: "So many families have no idea this is coming. "It's now just a few weeks away until families risk losing up to £4,000 worth of income. "It's something now that's gaining traction as people realise what impact these government policies will have on them. "In normal circumstances you might think these people will be able to take extra hours on but we know, at the moment, businesses and the public sector aren't taking on workers or giving extra hours' work either." But a spokesperson for the Treasury said Labour's figures ignored the other measures it had taken. These include increasing working age benefits by 5.2% in April and the child element of Child Tax Credit by inflation. The spokesperson added that fuel duty had been cut and council tax was frozen. "When it is introduced, the Universal Credit will give nearly three million households a higher level of entitlement and enable wholesale nhl jerseys more parents to get into work by helping 80,000 families with childcare support." The spokesperson added: "Ultimately there is nothing fair about running huge budget deficits and burdening future generations with debts we cannot afford to pay." Ms Reeves denied Labour was being disingenuous saying: "The government's own figures show that they expect 82,000 families will lose the full amount of their tax credit." She said the coalition was choosing to "hit women and families particularly hard with the cuts they are introducing". She added: "In an environment where we know that there are many people working part time because there aren't the full time jobs available, this is mlb jerseys from china the wrong policy at the wrong time for thousands of families." (Required) Name (Required) Your E-mail address (Required) Town & Country (Required) Your telephone number (Required) Comments If you are happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please leave a telephone number that we can contact you on. In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions. Terms and conditions Send Clear

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