LETTER: Tax credit cuts will hit families

With the New Year just begun, I don’t want to paint a picture of doom and gloom already, but towards the end of 2015 it took the respected think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), less than a day to burst a chancellor’s good news balloon.

As many headlines in 2015 concentrated on George Osborne’s climbdown over tax credit, the IFS pointed out that it changes nothing in the long term because the cuts would still feature in the new Universal Credit system, which is due to replace tax credits by 2018, and millions of families will be affected.

Existing benefit claimants on Jobseekers’ Allowance will be protected in cash terms when moved onto Universal Credit, the IFS said. However, 4.5 million working families will be affected by the introduction of Universal Credit of which 2.6 million stand to lose an average of £1,600 a year.

IFS research economist Andrew Hood said welfare will be significantly less generous in the long-run because the Conservative government aims to shrink non-pension benefits to their smaller share of national income for 30 years.

He also pointed out that the cut to work allowances announced in the summer 2015 Budget is still going ahead and will hit a similar group to those affected by the abandoned tax credit cuts.

Fiona Weir, chief executive of single parent pressure group Gingerbread, said both Gingerbread and campaigners up and down the country who have fought hard to overturn the planned cuts to tax credits should be pleased at the outcome.

However, this announcement only covers the first phase of tax credit cuts, due to kick in the new year.

Single parent families on Universal Credit will still suffer cuts to the support they receive if the planned reduction in the work allowance goes ahead.

So not much to look forward to as millions of families will still be worse off under this current government.

Not so much as a happy new year from George Osborne then, but as a proud member of Unite the union, one of the biggest in the country, they will keep fighting for fairness and workers rights in 2016 and beyond, I am ready for the challenges that 2016 may bring.

Just take a look at one of this parliament’s first acts was the government’s assault on the basic protections for working people.

The trade union bill is an obscenity in a modern democracy, it’s nasty and is a needless piece of legislation that serves no merit.

Remember, joining a trade union or another affiliate society can be a powerful way of engaging with the wider Labour movement.

We need to stand tall, together, to overcome and win.

Rodney Sadd
Vice-chairman of the CLP
South Holland and The Deepings