Disabled Person's Tax Credit (Hansard, 20 July 2001)

§ Mr. Bacon
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many disabled people would be entitled to payment of the Disabled Person's Tax Credit if the rules governing receipt of an eligible disability benefit were the same as those of the Disability Working Allowance; [5423]
570W
(2) if he will estimate the number of disabled people who would be entitled to the Disabled Person's Tax Credit if it was subject to the same taper as the Disability Working Allowance. [5422]

§ Dawn Primarolo
One condition for entitlement of the Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) is that the applicant is receiving one of a number of qualifying benefits, or was receiving one of them up to 182 days prior to the date of application. This is more generous than Disability Working Allowance (DWA), where the time limit was 56 days. However, no reliable estimate exists of the extra number of people who are entitled to an award through the time limit being extended.
About 1,800 recipients of DPTC at January 2001 would not have been entitled to an award had the income taper rate been 70 per cent. (the taper rate for DWA) rather than 55 per cent.

§ Mr. Bacon
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the level of take-up of the disabled person's tax credit; and what measures have been implemented by the Government to ensure that disabled people in work receive the support to which they are entitled; [5421]
(2) how many disabled people were in receipt of the disabled person's tax credit in June. [5424]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The numbers of recipients of the disabled person's tax credit (DPTC) are published in the DPTC Quarterly Enquiry. The latest Enquiry published includes information on awards at January 2001. Copies of the DPTC Quarterly Enquiries are available in the Library or on the Inland Revenue website www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk. Figures for April 2001 and July 2001 will be published in September and December, respectively.
On-going advertising and other activities continue to raise awareness of DPTC and have led to a 50 per cent. increase in the number of workers with a disability receiving in-work support compared with DWA.

§ Mr. Bacon
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the disabled person's tax credit will interact with the proposed employment tax credit and integrated child credit. [5419]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The Chancellor announced in Budget 2000 that an employment tax credit and an integrated child credit would replace existing credits (the working families' tax credit, the disabled person's tax credit, and the children's tax credit) and the child-related payments in income support and income-based jobseeker's allowance.
On 19 July this year, the Inland Revenue issued a consultation document inviting comments on its proposals for implementing these new tax credits, which will be introduced in 2003.