417,800 In work families
face cuts to £125.02 average weekly Tax Credits
GOVERNMENT must raise Tax thresholds
and insist that employers pay a living wage to compensate for the losses for
these lower paid workers says GMB. GMB is calling on Government to raise
Tax thresholds and insist that employers pay a living wage to compensate 417,800
in work families in the North West who face cuts to the average of £125.02
weekly Tax Credits they now receive. In the region the total paid is £2.7
billion per year.
Over the weekend Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne
stepped up press briefings on in advance of in the post election budget, on 8 July
2015. The latest figures show that in April 2015 there were 3,277,300 families in
the UK in receipt of these in work benefits. Latest figures show that they got
an average of £123.90 per week or £6,443 per annum. The total amount added these
families spending power is £21.15 billion for the UK as a whole.
In Lancashire an average of £124.52 per week is paid in child Tax Credits (CTC)
and working Tax Credits (WTC) to 69,900 families. This is a total of over £452m
per year. This is the biggest amount paid in any of the 23 areas in the region.
Next biggest is Manchester where 34,400 families get an average of £138.96 per
week or £255.8 million per year, followed by Liverpool where 28,200 families get
an average £119.70 per week or £174.7 million per year, followed by Cumbria
where 25,100 families get an average of £111.52 or £145.5 million per year.
See the table below for the numbers in receipt
of Tax Credits in each of the 23 areas in regions, with average weekly amounts
paid and total amount paid per year in the region.
Numbers of working families in North West Tax
England who receive Tax Credits |
Area |
Total families - in work families |
Average weekly value: All in work
families |
Annual amount being
put into the local economy by in work Tax Credits |
United Kingdom |
3,277,300 |
£123.90 |
£21,115,643,900 |
North West |
417,800 |
£125.02 |
£2,716,117,800 |
Lancashire |
69,900 |
£124.54 |
£452,672,400 |
Manchester |
35,400 |
£138.96 |
£255,800,400 |
Liverpool |
28,200 |
£119.17 |
£174,755,400 |
Cumbria |
25,100 |
£111.52 |
£145,554,900 |
Bolton |
19,400 |
£132.48 |
£133,646,600 |
Oldham |
16,900 |
£144.38 |
£126,885,200 |
Wigan |
19,100 |
£115.33 |
£114,542,700 |
Wirral |
17,900 |
£122.58 |
£114,094,600 |
Salford |
15,600 |
£135.87 |
£110,214,000 |
Rochdale |
15,300 |
£134.13 |
£106,717,500 |
Tameside |
15,000 |
£124.40 |
£97,035,000 |
Cheshire East UA |
15,700 |
£117.21 |
£95,691,500 |
Cheshire West and Chester UA |
15,700 |
£116.94 |
£95,471,700 |
Blackburn with Darwen UA |
12,500 |
£141.71 |
£92,112,500 |
Stockport |
14,400 |
£121.25 |
£90,792,000 |
Sefton |
14,800 |
£117.21 |
£90,206,000 |
Bury |
11,500 |
£135.48 |
£81,017,500 |
Blackpool UA |
11,100 |
£116.46 |
£67,221,600 |
Trafford |
10,200 |
£125.31 |
£66,463,200 |
Knowsley |
10,200 |
£119.10 |
£63,168,600 |
Warrington UA |
9,900 |
£116.38 |
£59,914,800 |
St. Helens |
9,400 |
£116.35 |
£56,870,000 |
Halton UA |
7,500 |
£121.04 |
£47,205,000 |
Paul McCarthy, GMB Regional Secretary, said:-
"The elephant in the Downing Street Cabinet Room is still cuts to in work
Tax Credits.
Such cuts may be the cost of a large brandy for Cameron but are bread and butter
for many working families.
Government must raise Tax thresholds and insist that employers pay a living wage
to compensate for the losses for these lower paid workers." |
|
Good practice event makes
domestic abuse everyone's business!
MORE than a hundred people have
gathered at Liverpool's FACT centre to celebrate and examine what good working
practices could be learned from a Public Health collaborative campaign to help
put an end to domestic abuse.
Nearly 20,000 people engaged with the:- 'Be a Lover not a Fighter' campaign
which was launched by award winning actress Crissy Rock earlier this year.
Aimed at the general public across the nine local authorities in Cheshire and
Merseyside:- 'Be a Lover not a Fighter' intended to breakdown boundaries
and uncover the scale and impacts of domestic abuse which is often a hidden
issue in communities. It asked people to pledge their support to help put an end
to domestic abuse and encouraged people to talk more about it.
The FACT event provided an arena for senior organisational leaders to connect
and debate how to work better together across sectors on domestic abuse. It
included key note speakers Melanie Sirotkin Centre Director of Public Health
England North West, Ian McNichol, Chair of Men's Centre and Ambassador of The
Mankind Initiative and Lee Charles, World Kick Boxing Champion and Actor. There
was also a panel debate hosted by BBC's Jim Hancock.
The conference showcased a number of films to highlight the boundary pushing:-
'Be a Lover not a Fighter' campaign in Cheshire and Merseyside, including a presence
from the celebrity support the campaign gained.
Delegates to the event included, Local Authority Directors of Public Health,
Directors of Adult Social Services, Directors of Children's Services, Domestic
Abuse Commissioners, Heads of Community Safety Partnerships, Heads of Public
Health Programmes and Chief Officers in Policing.
The campaign was the brainchild of Champs, a public health collaborative of the
Directors of Public Health across the nine local authorities in Cheshire and
Merseyside. It aimed to generate discussion about domestic abuse and how all
organisations can share success and work together to achieve more in bringing
the subject out into the open.
1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have suffered domestic abuse with 2 women killed
every week in the UK by their partners. But it's not just physical violence;
emotional and psychological abuse is less well acknowledged but is also domestic
abuse.
Matthew Ashton, Director of Public Health for Knowsley (with lead responsibility
for Domestic Abuse across Merseyside and Cheshire) said:- "We have been
overwhelmed by the response to the Be a Lover not a Fighter campaign and
consequently felt we had to share how successful this approach had been with the
partners, share best practice and help put an end to domestic abuse. The level
of partnership working in this campaign has helped to make it a success. We
can't let this good work stop here. Encouraging people to talk about domestic
abuse is hard - people are often afraid to talk openly and the social norm can
be to accept that it is happening, so I'd like to be able to build on what we
have achieved so far in order to work together further and put an end to
domestic abuse once and for all. "
For more information about the campaign and for more advice go to:-
LoverNotFighter.Org.UK.
|