Reforms to tax credits proposed from April 2016 should be postponed for a year to enable debate about the future of working-age benefits, a group of MPs said today.
The Chancellor is to set out plans in his 3 December Autumn Statement to lessen the impact of planned cuts, after they were rejected by the House of Lords.
In its report, the Work and Pensions Committees also accuse the Treasury of being "unacceptably evasive" for failing to provide information about the impact of its measures on different income groups.
The Chancellor announced plans to cut £4.4 billion from the tax credits system in his summer Budget in June, as part of plans to save £12 billion from the welfare bill.
However the Committee says that even when combined with the increase in the income tax personal allowance and the National Living Wage, the tax credits cuts would cost the average affected family £1,100 a year, with some £1,300 a year worse off as a result.
The Committee also say that the Chancellor should resist the temptation to “raid Universal Credit” as this would either shift the burden to different low income families or undermine the objective of making work pay.”
Read Disability Rights UK’s concerns about the proposed Tax Credits reforms @ http://disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2015/october/our-concerns-about-proposed-tax-credit-reforms
The Work and Pensions Committee’s report A reconsideration of tax credit cuts is available @ www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmworpen/548/548.pdf