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Commentary - Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: Provisional awards - December 2023

Updated 4 April 2024

About this release

These statistics focus on the number of families benefiting from Child Tax Credit (CTC) and/or Working Tax Credit (WTC) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as at 1 December 2023 .

This publication presents a breakdown of families by their profile position, age and gender, type of family and family size as well as the number of children in benefiting families, broken down by age.

It also includes statistics on families benefiting from each of the different elements of tax credits and provides information on the income used in calculating awards and the frequency of payments.

What are tax credits?

Tax credits are a system of financial support for families based on their specific circumstances.

The system, introduced in 2003, forms part of wider government policy to provide support to parents returning to work, reduce child poverty and increase financial support for families. The design of the system means that as families’ circumstances change, so does (daily) entitlement to tax credits.

Tax credits are based on household circumstances and can be claimed jointly by couples or by single adults.

Entitlement is based on the following factors:

• age

• income

• hours worked

• number and age of children

• childcare costs

• disabilities

For further information about who can claim please refer to the benefits page on GOV.UK.

Main headlines

The number of families claiming tax credits has steadily fallen since 2011, when changes to the tax credit system were implemented.

As at December 2023, there were:

• 873,000 families claiming tax credits - this is a fall of 321,000 (27%) compared to the previous year (Figure 1)

• 1,615,000 children in tax credit claiming families - this is a fall of 597,000 (27%) compared to the previous year

There have also been several policy changes during this period which have impacted these figures. These are:

• changes to the tax credit system implemented in April 2011
• the start of Universal Credit (UC) rollout in April 2013
• the full rollout of the digital UC service across the country in December 2018
• the closure of new tax credits claims in December 2018
• the temporary WTC uplift from April 2020 to April 2021

Figure 1: Total number of families (millions) receiving CTC and WTC, from December 2009

Of the 873,000 families claiming tax credits in December 2023:

• 334,000 (38%) were claiming both CTC and WTC

• 254,000 (29%) were out-of-work and claiming CTC only

• 188,000 (22%) were in-work and claiming CTC only

• 97,000 (11%) were in-work and claiming WTC only

Section 1: Time series

In general, there has been a downward trend in the number of recipient families for all categories of benefits since December 2013 (Figure 2).

Between December 2013 and December 2023, the number of recipient families fell from:

• 1,865,000 to 334,000 for in-work, WTC and CTC, a decrease of 82%
• 1,389,000 to 254,000 for out-of-work, CTC only, a decrease 82%
• 829,000 to 188,000 for in-work, CTC only, a decrease of 77%
• 543,000 to 97,000 for in-work, WTC only, a decrease of 82%

The order of size of recipient categories has remained constant with the largest as ‘in-work WTC and CTC’, followed by ‘out-of-work, CTC only’, with ‘in-work, CTC only’ as third, and then finally ‘in-work WTC only’.

Figure 2: Breakdown of the recipient families (millions) by type of credits received, from December 2013

Section 2: Summary of composition of tax credits

The most common type of tax credit received for singles is ‘out-of-work, CTC’ where they make up 64% of claimants for this tax credit type. For couples, ‘in-work, WTC and CTC’ is most common type of tax credit received. This is followed by ‘in-work, CTC only’ with these families accounting for 80% of this group. The least common tax credit type is ‘in-work, WTC only’ for couples and ‘in-work, CTC only’ for singles.

Figure 3: Number of families (thousands) by type of award and family composition, December 2023

Table 1: Data for Figure 3, number and percentage of families (thousands) by tax credit type and working status, split by family type, December 2023

Tax credit type	Singles (thousands)	Singles (%)	Couples (thousands)	Couples (%)	Total
Out-of-work, CTC	164	64	90	36	254
In-work, WTC and CTC	151	45	183	55	334
In-work, CTC only	37	20	151	80	188
In-work, WTC only	47	49	50	51	97

Section 3: Age, sex, and children in recipient families

Age of eldest adult in recipient families

Figure 4 shows that the number of tax credit claimants increases in line with age until the 40 to 44 age group, which has a total of 181,000 families claiming tax credits. After this the number of claimants fall in line with age.

Single families make up a higher proportion of the lower age bands, with this trend reversed for ages 40 to 49 onwards.

Figure 4: Number of families (thousands) by adult age band and family composition, December 2023

Table 2: Data for Figure 4, number and percentage of families (thousands) by adult age band, split by family type, December 2023

Age	Singles (thousands)	Singles (%)	Couples (thousands)	Couples (%)	Total
Under 25	1	97	0	3	1
25 to 29	14	87	2	13	16
30 to 34	47	72	18	28	65
35 to 39	78	58	57	42	135
40 to 44	84	46	97	54	181
45 to 49	69	40	103	60	173
50 to 54	53	38	87	62	140
55 to 59	27	33	55	67	82
60 to 65	15	30	36	70	51
66 and over	10	36	18	64	29

Age bands for couples are based on the age of the eldest adult.

Children in recipient families

The majority (71%) of families receiving CTC had either one or two children. Couples generally make up a higher proportion of larger families, with 75% of families with 5 or more children composed of couples, compared with 38% of 1 child families.

The distribution of children includes all children or qualifying young people in families receiving tax credits. This may not be equal to the number of children for whom the family is receiving the child element of CTC due to the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children, affecting children born after 6 April 2017 unless they are covered by an exception.

Figure 5: Number of families (thousands) receiving CTC by number of children and family composition, December 2023

Table 3: Data for Figure 5, number and percentage of families (thousands) receiving CTC by number of children, split by family type, December 2023

Number of children	Singles (thousands)	Singles (%)	Couples (thousands)	Couples (%)	Total
1 child	171	62	107	38	277
2 children	117	42	160	58	277
3 children	44	31	99	69	143
4 children	15	27	40	73	54
5 or more children	6	25	19	75	25

Since new claims for tax credits for tax credits ended in January 2019, the average age of children in families claiming CTC has increased. 7% of children in claiming families were under 5 in December 2023. 825,000 children in claiming families (52% of all children) were aged 10 to 15.

Figure 6: Number of children in families (thousands) receiving CTC by child age band and family composition, December 2023

Table 4: Data for Figure 6, number and percentage of children in families (thousands) receiving CTC by child age band, split by family type, December 2023

Child age	Singles (thousands)	Singles (%)	Couples (thousands)	Couples (%)	Total
Under 5	50	43	66	57	116
5 to 9	145	35	266	65	411
10 to 15	319	39	506	61	825
16 and over	111	44	139	56	250
Unknown age	3	19	11	81	14
Total	628	39	987	61	1,615

Sex of adults in recipient families

Women make up the majority of single families for both out-of-work (95%) and in-work (88%) families.

Table 5: Number and percentage of single families (thousands) by family type, split by sex, December 2023

Family type	Female (thousands)	Female (%)	Male (thousands)	Male (%)	Total
Out-of-work families	155	95	9	5	164
In-work families	206	88	29	12	235

Of the 289,000 couple families with a sole worker:

• 37,000 (13%) had a female sole worker
• 252,000 (87%) had a male sole worker

There were an additional 95,000 couple families where both adults were in work.

‘Worker’ is defined here as an adult working for a minimum of 16 hours per week.

Section 4: Hours worked and childcare of in-work recipient families

Figure 7 shows average weekly support with childcare costs for claimant families. The costs claimed for range from under £20 to over £150 a week. Lone parents across all cost bands make up the majority for eligible childcare costs.

Figure 7: Number of families benefiting from the childcare element (thousands) by cost band, split by family composition, December 2023

Table 6: Data for Figure 7, number of families benefiting from the childcare element (thousands) by cost band, split by family composition, December 2023

Cost band	Singles	Singles (%)	Couples	Couples (%)	Total
Under £20	4.2	69	1.9	31	6.1
£20 to £39.99	4.9	70	2.1	30	7.1
£40 to £59.99	3.7	71	1.5	29	5.2
£60 to £79.99	2.6	70	1.1	30	3.7
£80 to £99.99	2.0	69	0.9	31	2.9
£100 to £119.99	1.6	69	0.7	31	2.3
£120 to £149.99	2.0	68	0.9	32	2.9
£150 and over	6.6	55	5.4	45	12.1

In 263,000 families claiming tax credits, the main worker worked full-time (35 hours per week). The majority (78%) of these families were couples.

Of the 131,000 families where the main worker worked 16 to 23 hours, 80% were single (Figure 8).

There were an additional 24,000 couples whose combined hours exceed 30 per week and benefit from the 30-hour credit. This made a total of 105,000 single families and 310,000 couples which benefitted from the 30-hour credit.

Figure 8: Number of weekly hours (thousands) worked by main worker, December 2023

Table 7: Data for Figure 8, number and percentage of families (thousands) by weekly hours worked by main worker, split by family type, December 2023

Family type	Singles (thousands)	Singles (%)	Couples (thousands)	Couples (%)	Total
16 to 23 hours	105	80	26	20	131
24 to 29 hours	25	26	71	74	96
30 to 34 hours	47	37	81	63	129
35 or more hours	58	22	205	78	263

Section 5: In-work families benefitting from disability elements

In December 2023 there were:

• 48,000 disabled workers benefitting from the disabled worker element
• 31,000 severely disabled adults benefitting from the severely disabled adult element
• 111,000 disabled children in families benefitting from the disabled child element, of which 43,000 benefitted from the severely disabled child element

The main data tables 5.1 to 5.4 provide more details on those in-work families benefitting from the four disability elements including the total number of disabled adults or children, the size of the benefitting families and the number of families also benefitting from other elements of tax credits.

Section 6: Annual incomes of in-work recipient families

The amount of tax credits a family receives depends on their level of income. Awards based on an income up to £7,455 (the income threshold for year-ending 5th April 2024) receive their maximum entitlement whereas for incomes above this amount the award is tapered (see the Child and Working Tax Credit Entitlement section for details).

The vast majority (87%) of families receiving tax credits had incomes under £30,000 (Figure 9). The most common income bracket was £10,000 to £19,999.

Figure 9: Numbers of in-work families (thousands) by range of income used to taper awards, December 2023

Table 8: Data for Figure 9, number of in-work families (thousands) by income used to taper awards, December 2023

Income	Number of families (thousands)	% of families
Up to £7,455	73	12
£7,455 to £9,999	78	13
£10,000 to £19,999	249	40
£20,000 to £29,999	135	22
£30,000 to £39,999	63	10
£40,000 to £50,000	17	3
Over £50,000	3	1

Section 7: Type of payments to in-work families with children

Tax credit recipients can choose whether they are paid in weekly or four-weekly instalments.

Figure 10 shows that weekly CTC payments are more common than four-weekly payment cycles.

Figure 10: Numbers of in-work families (thousands) with children by payee and chosen frequency of payment, December 2023

Table 9: Data for Figure 10, number and percentage of families (thousands) by payee, split by family type, December 2023

Payee	Weekly	Weekly (%)	Four weekly	Four weekly (%)	Total
Single females (thousands)	121	67	60	33	181
Single males (thousands)	5	64	3	36	7
Couple female payee (thousands)	145	58	104	42	249
Couple male payee (thousands)	49	58	36	42	85

Section 8: Regional analysis of recipient families

There are detailed breakdowns of the level of support provided in each region, the numbers of families benefitting from the childcare element as well as the disabled worker element and disabled child element. Geographical splits at Local Authority Level, Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Level and Scottish Parliamentary Constituency Level can be found in the geographical tables.

Section 9: Transfer to UC and other claim end reasons

Most new claims for tax credits were stopped in January 2019. When a claim ends, a ‘claim end reason’ is recorded. The main reasons recorded are ‘UC Migration’ or ‘household breakdown’. Claims can end or be terminated for a range of other reasons which have been combined in this section into the ‘terminations and other group.

Figure 11 shows that since January 2019, there have been 1,439,000 tax credit recipients identified as having their tax credits claim terminated due to a move to UC. The monthly transfer to UC between January 2023 to December 2023 was between 7,000 and 41,000.

There was a higher number of transfers in April and May 2020. This was due to the impact of COVID-19.

Since January 2019, 284,000 claims have ended due to household breakdown and 2,096,000 claims have ended or been terminated for other reasons.

There were a larger number of claims terminated in autumn due to annual renewal process for tax credits and due to the start of the academic year when dependent children leave education and families are no longer eligible for tax credits.

Figure 11: Cumulative total of tax credits claimants (millions) who have had their claims ended since January 2019

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