Tens of thousands of city kids threatened by Tory budget cuts

George Osborne is expected to target working age benefits and tax credits in his post election budget on Wednesday where he will finally outline where £12bn of welfare cuts will fall.

Across Scotland there are a more than half a million children potentially affected by cuts to child and working tax credits.

In Glasgow 45,000 families with 78,000 children receive tax credits and face a drop in valuable income if Mr Osborne decides as expected to reduce the cash.

He is understood to be considering as much as a £5bn cut from the tax credit bill, which would return the value of the benefit to 2003 levels.

There are 46,000 children in families with one parent working in the city who receive child and working tax credits.

Another 32,000 children whose parents are out of work also receive child tax credits.

Estimates by the Institute of Fiscal studies showed that the poorest families could lose £845 per child a year.

Labour has warned that turning back the clock on a policy introduced by Gordon Brown as Chancellor would hit those most in need of help.

Drew Smith, Glasgow Labour MSP, said: “During the General Election the Prime Minister promised the ‘good life’ for families but now he plans to cut vital support for families in Glasgow, Scotland and across the UK

“With thousands of families in Scotland struggling from week the week the absolute last people the Chancellor should target is low income families, but instead his plan to slash welfare puts nearly 45,000 families in Glasgow and nearly 80,000 children at risk.”

Last week Prime Minister, David Cameron, heightened expectation of a cut when he said the tax credit system was a “welfare merry-go-round” where low wages are topped up by the state.

He said it was “people working on the minimum wage, having that money taxed by the government and then the government giving them the money back in tax credits and more, in welfare,

“It’s dealing with the symptoms of the problem, topping up low pay rather than extending the drivers of opportunity.”

Academics who have studied the impact of welfare reform and austerity say targeting tax credits will disproportionately affect areas with high unemployment.

Professor Steve Fothergill, co-author of the Sheffield Hallam University reports, said: “We know enough about the impact of the cuts last time around to be able to predict fairly accurately which places are in the firing line.”

He said cuts to tax credits cuts hit hardest in areas of high unemployment and low wages.

In the city 60% of children live in households dependent on tax credits to top up low incomes.

Glasgow’s Pollok constituency has the highest number of children whose families get tax credits with 12,900 and the city is the highest of Scotland’s eight parliamentary regions, with another 68,000 in the rest of the west of Scotland.

Families can receive up to £2,780 a year in tax credits and those with a disabled child qualify for up to £360 more.

The IFS research showed families could lose an average of £1400.

Mr Smith added: “The last Labour Government introduced tax credits to tackle working poverty, and it worked. There are thousands of people in Glasgow who can attest to that

“Recently new information has shown that over 200,000 children in Scotland are living in poverty – on what planet does slashing tax credits help those kids?”

Children’s charities have called on the Chancellor to step back from cutting tax credits.

Mark Ballard, Head of Policy for Barnardo’s Scotland said: “The UK Government has promised to improve support for working families so that parents do not have to choose between feeding their families and heating their homes.

“Unfortunately, the reality is increasing numbers of working parents are struggling to stay above the breadline, and any proposed cuts the benefits they rely on will only make things worse.

“Low paid parents with dependent children rely on tax credits to make up to the difference between what they earn and what they need to get by.”