Accredited official statistics

Child and Working Tax Credits Finalised Annual Awards 2024 to 2025 Main Commentary

Published 25 September 2025

1. About this release

These statistics focus on the estimated number of families benefitting from Child Tax Credit (CTC) and/or Working Tax Credit (WTC) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during the tax year ending 2025 (6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025).

1.1 Future of Finalised Awards Statistics

Users of these statistics should note that this is the final statistical release in the series due to the closure of tax credits in April 2025.

2. Main headlines

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

In tax year ending 2025, there were an average of:

• 199,000 families claiming tax credits - this is an estimated fall of 700,000 (78%) compared to the previous year
• 364,000 children in tax credit claiming families - this is an estimated fall of 1,313,000 (78%) 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
• start of the 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: Estimated number of families (millions) receiving tax credits, from tax year ending 2009

3. Time series

In general, there has been a downward trend in the number of recipient families for all categories of benefits since tax year ending 2013.

Between tax year ending 2024 and tax year ending 2025, the average number of recipient families fell from:

• 343,000 to 58,000 for in-work, WTC and CTC, a decrease of 83%
• 268,000 to 97,000 for out-of-work, CTC only, a decrease 64%
• 194,000 to 20,000 for in-work, CTC only, a decrease of 90%
• 94,000 to 23,000 for in-work, WTC only, a decrease of 75%

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

Total annual entitlement remained at similar levels between tax year ending 2013 and tax year ending 2016, at £28.4 billion. From tax year ending 2017 there has been a gradual decrease in total annual entitlement to tax credits to an £1.8 billion in tax year ending 2025.

Between tax year ending 2024 and tax year ending 2025, total annual entitlement to tax credits fell from:

• £3.8 billion to £0.7 billion for in-work, WTC and CTC, a decrease of 81%
• £2.3 billion to £0.9 billion for out-of-work, CTC only, a decrease 62%
• £1.0 billion to £0.1 billion for in-work, CTC only, a decrease of 88%
• £0.3 billion to £0.1 billion for in-work, WTC only, a decrease of 71%

4. A National Statistics publication

National Statistics are accredited official statistics. They are produced to high professional standards as set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has accredited these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Accreditation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs
• are well explained and readily accessible
• are produced according to sound methods
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
• are produced to the highest standard, ensuring that data confidentiality has been maintained

Once statistics have been accredited as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

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5. Contact details

5.1 Benefits and credits statistics

Media contact: HMRC Press Office

Statistical contact: J Martin