As organisations working with and on behalf of children and the low paid we share the prime minister’s wish to open up opportunity for all our children and to tackle the UK’s low-pay problem (Report, 22 June, theguardian.com) – almost two-thirds of poor children come from working families.
This is precisely why we welcomed his government’s (partly delivered) announcement to invest in child tax credits in the 2010 spending review and why, now, we believe it would be a mistake to cut them. The cuts reportedly being considered could mean a low-paid family with two children will lose up to £1,690 a year. Two-thirds of the families affected by the proposal are in work and 60% of cuts have already fallen on working people. The biggest impact will be felt by the poorest 30% of households and no one in the top 40% will be affected.
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