HC Deb 03 July 2000 vol 353 c94W
Mrs. Ewing

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many advisers, dealing with the working families tax credit system, have been trained specifically to deal with employees who as part of their contract receive bonuses in the course of their employment; in what circumstances such bonuses are included for assessment purposes; and how this applies to military personnel. [128520]

Dawn Primarolo

Staff on processing sections and on helplines in the Tax Credits Offices in Great Britain and Northern Ireland are all trained to deal with questions about the income relevant to an application for the Working Families Tax Credit, or to refer such questions to the relevant specialists for advice. Bonuses which are paid as part of normal remuneration, and bonuses which are paid separately from normal remuneration, for example, for periods longer than the normal pay period are included for assessment purposes. This applies equally to bonuses paid to military personnel.

Dr. Kumar

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families have benefited from the working families tax credit and by how much(a) nationally, (b) in Teesside and (c) in the constituency of Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East; and if he will make a statement. [128510]

Dawn Primarolo

The number of families in receipt of the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) at the end of April 2000 is provisionally estimated at 1,053,000. 17,100 of these were in Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees unitary authorities. I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) on 28 June 2000,Official Report, column 537W, for the number of WFTC awards in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency.

The national average value of awards current at April 2000 is estimated at £73 per week. For the North East region it is estimated at £71 per week. There are too few cases in the 5 per cent. sample of awards used for these analyses to provide reliable estimates of average awards at the local authority or constituency level.