Child poverty campaigners blast government for reneging on tax credit promise

29 November 2011 2 mins read Janaki Mahadevan Early Years

The government will not go ahead with plans to raise child tax credit above the rate of inflation, Chancellor George Osborne has announced, leading to accusations that the government has abandoned its pledge to extinguish child poverty.

In the June 2010 Budget, the Chancellor announced plans to increase child tax credits by £50 above inflation as a measure to prevent rises in child poverty. The spending review in October last year reaffirmed the pledge, meaning that there would be annual increases of £180 above inflation in 2011/12, and then £110 in 2012/13.

But in his autumn statement today (29 November) George Osborne reversed the decision.

He said: "We will uprate the disability elements of tax credits, and increase the child element of the child tax credit by £135 in line with inflation too. But we will not uprate the other elements of the working tax credit this coming year.

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