To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of tax credit claimants were (a) out of work, (b) self-employed and (c) employed in each of the last five years.
Answered on
10 June 2014
The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available are 2012-13.
Tax Year | Proportion of households in receipt of tax credits who are classified as 'in work' | |||
Proportion of households in receipt of tax credits who are classified as 'out of work' | Households who are classified as self employed only | Households who are classified as employed only | Households who are classified as both employed and self employed | |
2008-09 | 23% | 6% | 63% | 8% |
2009-10 | 24% | 7% | 62% | 8% |
2010-11 | 23% | 7% | 62% | 8% |
2011-12 | 25% | 8% | 58% | 8% |
2012-13 | 32% | 10% | 51% | 7% |
The increase in the proportion of out of work and self employed households in 2012-13 (and the decrease in the proportion of employed households) can largely be explained by the removal of the ‘Second Income Threshold' of tax credits in April 2012. This policy change removed a large number of higher income households from the population. As self employed and out of work households generally have lower incomes, they were less affected by this change and so their proportion in the population has increased.