AQO 8601/11-16

Mr Alex Attwood
Social Democratic and Labour Party
West Belfast

Tabled Date: 01/09/2015
Answered On Date: 09/09/2015
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Social Development for his assessment of the impact locally of the working tax credit changes announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 8 July 2015.

Answer:

In the Summer Budget 2015 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that he intended to achieve annual savings of £12 billion on welfare expenditure by 2019/2020. This included savings from changes to working tax credits.

Tax credits are a reserved matter and therefore changes to payment rates or eligibility criteria do not require Executive agreement. These measures will therefore be introduced by HM Revenue and Customs following the legislative passage of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill 2015 in Great Britain. The savings will be achieved at a UK level regardless of the positions adopted by any devolved administration.

Since the budget statement DSD officials have been working to better understand both the detail and financial implications of the welfare measures in the budget and the impact on Northern Ireland.

An assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget to include the changes to working tax credits will be available at the end of September.