National statistics

Commentary - Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: Provisional awards - April 2022

Updated 22 November 2022

What are tax credits?

Tax credits are a system of financial support for families based on their specific circumstances.

The system, introduced in 2003, forms part of wider government policy to provide support to parents returning to work, reduce child poverty and increase financial support for families. The design of the system means that as families’ circumstances change, so does (daily) entitlement to tax credits.

Tax credits are based on household circumstances and can be claimed jointly by couples or by single adults. Entitlement is based on the following factors:

• age
• income
• hours worked
• number and age of children
• childcare costs
• disabilities

For further information about who can claim please refer to the benefits page on GOV.UK.

These statistics focus on the number of families benefitting from Child Tax Credit (CTC) and/or Working Tax Credit (WTC) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as at 1 April 2022.

This publication presents a breakdown of families by their profile position, age and gender, type of family and family size as well as the number of children in benefitting families, broken down by age.

It also includes statistics on families benefitting from each of the different elements of tax credits and provides information on the income used in calculating awards and the frequency of payments.

Main headlines

In April 2022 there were:

• 1.43 million families claiming CTC and/or WTC in April 2022 - this is a fall of 467,700 when compared to a year earlier.
• 2.7 million children in tax credit claiming families - this is a fall of 787,400 when compared to a year earlier.

Figure A: Number of families claiming tax credits since April 2009

Figure A shows the number of families claiming tax credits since April 2009. Since the peak in 2011 the number of families claiming tax credits has fallen to 1.43 million in April 2022. Figure A also shows policy changes introduced which could have had an impact on these numbers.

In April 2011, changes to the tax credit system were implemented. In April 2013, Universal Credit (UC) had started to be rolled out and by December 2018 there was a full digital service of UC across the country and a closure of new tax credits claimants. In April 2020, there was a temporary WTC uplift until April 2021.

Figure B: Breakdown of tax credits population

Figure B shows that there were 1.43 million tax credits claimants in April 2022.

27% of these were out-of-work and claiming CTC only. 23% were in-work and claiming CTC only. 9% were in-work claiming WTC only. 41% were in-work and claiming both CTC and WTC.

Figure C: Families and children in each country or English region

Figure C shows the families and children in each country or English region claiming tax credits. London has the most families and children claiming tax credits whilst the North East has the least. Specific breakdowns can be found in the main data tables 8.1 and 8.2.

Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic

During 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic led to some changes in the tax credit system which may have had an impact on these statistics. As part of a number of measures to support the country, the basic element of WTC was temporarily increased by £1,045 to £3,040 from 6 April 2020 until 5 April 2021. The amount a claimant or household has benefitted depends on their circumstances, including their level of household income, how many children they are responsible for and if they are disabled.

However, many claimants will have received an increase of up to £20 each week. The temporary increase moved many claimants from nil to positive awards at the start of April 2020.

At the start of the pandemic, there was also a higher than usual move to UC due to unemployment impacts and a reduction in working hours. These impacts have largely offset one another. Policies were also introduced relaxing rules on the number of hours claimants need to work to be eligible for WTC.

HMRC’s standard procedure is to automatically renew tax credits claims unless they are claims which HMRC deem to be high risk. If they are high risk, a reply is required from the claimant to renew their tax credit claim. These are known as ‘Reply Required’ (RRQ).

In 2020 to 2021, due to pressures of the pandemic, RRQs were paused. This is likely to have resulted in fewer tax credits terminations than there would have been otherwise.

Policy changes during the 2021 to 2022 tax year

On 5 April 2021 the temporary £20 per week uplift referred to in the previous section was removed. As a result, the maximum annual basic element of WTC was decreased from £3,040 to £2,005.

WTC claimants with a current award were instead given a one-off £500 lump sum to mirror the 6-month extension of the £20 per week uplift that was applied to UC. These one-off payments were paid outside of the tax credit system and are therefore not reflected in the statistics presented in this publication.

The removal of the temporary £20 per week uplift resulted in many claimants moving from a positive award to a nil award from 6 April 2021. This coupled with the continued movement of claimants from tax credits to UC, has resulted in fewer claimants of both WTC and CTC, during the 2021 to 2022 tax year.

In 2021 to 2022, RRQs were resumed. Therefore, as a proportion of total tax credits claimants, fewer tax credit claims would have been automatically renewed which could result in more tax credit terminations in 2021 to 2022.

Section 1: Time series

Section 1 provides statistics on the history of the tax credits system between April 2009 and April 2022. This enables comparisons across different tax credits populations and describes how various parts of the system have changed over time.

Figure 1.1: Total number of families receiving CTC and WTC, April 2009 to April 2022

Figure 1.1 shows the total number of families claiming tax credits was around 6 million until 2011. This figure subsequently decreased as a result of policy changes announced in the June 2010 budget, the October 2010 spending review and the introduction of UC in 2013.

The roll-out of UC to all areas of the country was completed on 12 December 2018, which means that from this date there were no new claims for tax credits except in a small number of limited circumstances. From 6 April 2020 until 5 April 2021, there was a temporary uplift of £20 per week due to the measures put in place at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As at April 2022, the total number of families claiming tax credits was 1.43 million continuing the downward trend.

Figure 1.2: Breakdown of the recipient families by type of credits received

Figure 1.2 breaks down the tax credits population by the type of benefit they receive and have received since April 2013. As shown above, the largest recipient category is ‘In-work, WTC and CTC’ at 586,000, followed by ‘Out-of-work CTC only’ at 383,000, followed by ‘In-work, CTC only’ at 330,000 and then finally ‘In-work, WTC only’ at 136,000.

This has been the order since April 2013 and following a downward trend.

Figure 1.3: Number of families claiming WTC only (in-work families with no children) and families claiming the childcare element

Figure 1.3 shows that the number of families claiming WTC only has declined from April 2011 to April 2022. It remained above 500,000 until April 2016 but has since decreased to 136,000 in April 2022. Figure 1.3 also shows that the number of families benefitting from the childcare element has fallen to 89,000.

The small increase in the WTC only claimants in April 2021 was due to the measures put in place at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. From 6 April 2020 until 5 April 2021, the temporary uplift of £20 per week moved many claimants from nil to positive awards. More details of these measures are provided in the Covid-19 impacts section above.

Following the end of the temporary £20 per week increase on 5 April 2021, many claimants have moved from a positive award back to a nil award. This is likely to have resulted in the decline in WTC only claimants, which continues the pre-Covid downward trend.

Section 2: Summary

Section 2 provides a summary on the tax credits population as at April 2022. More detailed breakdowns can be found in sections 3 to 8.

Figure 2.1: Composition of families receiving different types of tax credits

Figure 2.1 shows the tax credits population by the type of tax credits they receive and the composition of their family (whether they are single or in a couple). The majority of recipients are in work and receiving both WTC and CTC.

For singles the out-of-work families, receiving CTC only is 258,000, in-work families with children of which receiving WTC and CTC is 332,000, in-work families with children receiving CTC only is 88,000, and in-work families with no children receiving WTC only is 80,000.

For couples the out-of-work families, receiving CTC only is 125,000, in-work families with children of which receiving WTC and CTC is 253,000, in-work families with children receiving CTC only is 242,000, and in-work families with no children receiving WTC only is 57,000.

67% of out-of-work families receiving CTC only are lone parents, and 73% of the in-work families receiving CTC only are couples. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Figure 2.2: Recipient families: proportion of families receiving each type of award

Figure 2.2 shows that approximately 383,000 (27%) of families claiming tax credits are out-of-work families receiving CTC and in-work families make up the remaining 73%. Within this 73%, approximately 586,000 (41%) of families are claiming relatively higher value awards (WTC and CTC), 330,000 (23%) are claiming CTC only and the remaining 136,000 (9%) are in-work families with no children claiming WTC only. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Section 3: Age, gender and children in recipient families

Section 3 focuses on the demographic breakdown of the tax credits population, including the age and gender of adults in recipient families as well as the number and age of children in each family.

Figure 3.1: Age breakdown of adults receiving tax credits

Figure 3.1 shows the age breakdown of adults receiving tax credits and whether they are single or in a couple. It shows that tax credits recipients most commonly fall within the 40-49 age range with 277,500 adult singles and 281,400 adult couples receiving tax credits.

There are more singles under age 40 who claim tax credits, 299,100 against 153,400 couples under age 40. Whilst there are fewer singles over age 40 who claim tax credits, 458,500 against 523,700 couples over age 40. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Age bands for couples are based on the age of the eldest adult.

Figure 3.2: Number of children in families receiving CTC

Figure 3.2 shows the number of children in different types of families receiving CTC. The majority of families receiving CTC had either one or two children. Couples are more likely than single adults to have larger family sizes; around 70% of one-child families have a single adult claimant whereas 64% to 74% of claims with three or more children are from couple families. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Figure 3.3: Distribution of children by age in tax credit families

Figure 3.3 shows the distribution of children by age in tax credit families. Single adult families have slightly more qualifying young people aged 16 and over than families with two adults, 179,000 against 169,000. In general, lone parents are more likely to be claiming tax credits for older children or qualifying young people than their couple counterparts. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

The distribution of children includes all children or qualifying young people in families receiving tax credits. This may not be equal to the number of children for whom the family is receiving the child element of CTC due to the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children, affecting children born after 6 April 2017 unless they are covered by an exception.

Figure 3.4: Gender of tax credits single families in out-of-work and in-work families

Figure 3.4 shows that females make up the majority of out-of-work (94%) and in-work (89%) single families. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Figure 3.5: Gender of working adult(s) in couple families

Figure 3.5 shows that in couple families with one sole worker, males make up the majority (87%). This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

‘Worker’ is defined here as an adult working for a minimum of 16 hours per week.

Section 4: Hours worked and childcare of in-work recipient families

Section 4 focuses on the in-work recipient families, with breakdowns of the numbers of hours worked per week and the number of families benefitting from the 30-hour element. It also covers the number of families benefitting from the childcare element and the cost of that childcare.

Figure 4.1: Weekly hours worked by main worker for in-work families in receipt of tax credits (thousands)

Figure 4.1 shows the number of weekly hours worked by the main worker for in-work families receiving tax credits. The majority of main workers in couples work full-time (or the equivalent of 35 hours or more per week). The majority of single parents work part-time, but there is a more even split for them across part-time and full-time work.

In addition to the 648,600 families where the main or only worker works over 30 hours per week, there are 32,700 couples whose combined hours exceed 30 per week benefit from the 30-hour credit. In total, 229,000 single families and 452,300 couples benefit from the 30-hour credit. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Figure 4.2: Eligible childcare costs claimed (per week)

Figure 4.2 shows average weekly support with childcare costs for claimant families. The costs claimed for are split broadly across the cost bands although the largest numbers of families are claiming £150 or over per week. Lone parents across all cost bands make up the majority for eligible childcare costs. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Section 5: In-work families benefitting from disability elements

Section 5 focuses on families that are benefitting from the disability elements - the disabled worker element, the severely disabled adult element, the disabled child element and the severely disabled child element.

There are breakdowns of the family size and the numbers of hours worked by those benefitting as well as breakdowns on overlapping disability or childcare elements.

Number of individuals benefiting from the disability elements

Headline figures

In April 2022 there were:

• 66,400 disabled workers benefitting from the disabled worker element, of which 36,000 are benefitting from the severely disabled adult element
• 146,900 disabled children benefitting from the disabled child element, of which 51,000 are benefitting from the severely disabled child element

The main data tables 5.1 to 5.4 provide more details on those in-work families benefitting from the four disability elements including the total number of disabled adults or children, the size of the benefitting families and the number of families also benefitting from other elements of tax credits.

Section 6: Annual incomes of in-work recipient families

The amount of tax credits a family receives depends on their level of income. The maximum award is reduced (known as tapered) as families move up the income distribution.

Section 6 describes the distribution of incomes used to taper awards for families in receipt. This is also broken down further in the data tables by the type of income reported – that is, whether the award is based on the family’s income from the previous year (‘PY’ income), the family’s current year income (‘CY’ income), or whether income disregards have been applied. Please see the technical note for more details on how entitlement is calculated.

Figure 6.1: Income used to taper awards: in-work recipient families

Figure 6.1 shows that the large majority of families receiving tax credits have incomes under £30,000 with the highest proportion falling within the £10,000 to £19,999 range. Awards based on an income up to £6,565 receive their maximum entitlement whereas for incomes above this amount the award is tapered (see the Child and Working Tax Credit Entitlement section for details). This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Section 7: Type of payments to in-work families with children

Section 7 details the chosen payment frequency for families in receipt, broken down by family status and gender of the payee. Tax credit recipients are able to choose whether they are paid in weekly or four-weekly intervals.

Figure 7.1: Chosen frequency of payment: in-work families with children

Figure 7.1 shows that families tend to choose weekly CTC payments rather than four-weekly payment cycles. Most CTC payments are paid to female claimants. Both single and couple claimant families are more likely to opt for weekly payments with 65% of singles and 58% of couples doing so. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

Cases where the frequency of payment is unknown are not included in the graph.

Section 8: Regional analysis of recipient families

Section 8 details the numbers of families in receipt of tax credits with a regional breakdown. There are detailed breakdowns of the level of support provided in each region, the numbers of families benefitting from the childcare element as well as the disabled worker element and disabled child element. Geographical splits at Local Authority Level, Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Level and Scottish Parliamentary Constituency Level can be found in the geographical tables.

Figure 8.1: Numbers of families claiming different types of tax credits by country and English region

As seen in Figure 8.1 above, the region with the highest number of tax credits recipients is London, followed by the North West and then the West Midlands. The region with the lowest number of tax credits recipients is the North East of England followed by Northern Ireland.

The highest number of families on the higher awards - those receiving WTC and CTC - are from London followed by the North West. The highest number of out-of-work families in receipt are again in London followed by the North West. This follows the same trend as last year’s April publication.

This takes no account of the size of the population that are eligible for tax credits so one should be careful when drawing inferences from these results.

Section 9: Transfer to UC and other claim end reasons

Section 9 details the cumulative numbers of tax credit recipients who have ended their tax credits claim since January 2019, when the vast majority of new claims for tax credits were stopped. When a claim ends, a ‘Claim end reason’ is recorded. The main reasons recorded are “UC Migration” or “Household Breakdown”. Claims can end or be terminated for a range of other reasons which have been combined in this section into the “Terminations and Other” group.

Figure 9.1: Cumulative total of tax credits claimants who have had their claims ended either from UC migration, household breakdown or terminations and other in the monthly interim data since January 2019

Figure 9.1 shows that, since January 2019, there have been 1.13 million tax credit recipients identified as having their tax credits claim terminated due to a move to UC. The monthly transfer to UC between May 2021 to April 2022 is between 11,000 and 16,000.

There was a significantly higher number of transfers in April 2020 at 69,000 and May 2020 at 153,000. This was due to the impact of Covid-19, please see Covid-19 impacts section. Since January 2019, 246,000 claims have ended due to household breakdown and 1.42 million claims have ended or been terminated for other reasons.

There are a larger number of claims terminated in autumn due to annual renewal process for tax credits and due to the start of the academic year when dependant children leave education and families are no longer eligible for tax credits.

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Compliance check of the Child and Working Child Tax Credit statistics

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) conducted a compliance check of child and working tax credit statistics in 2021. A letter summarising their findings and recommendations can be found on the OSR website.

Appendix A: Technical note

Current entitlement

There is a single entitlement calculation covering both Child and Working Tax Credit, and covers the income and other circumstances of both partners where there are two adults in the family.

Awards run to the end of the tax year, and are based on the element values, thresholds, etc. shown at Appendix B.

An annual award is calculated by summing the various elements to which the family is entitled. Unless the family is receiving Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-based Employment and Support Allowance or Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit), this sum is reduced if the family’s annual income (see below) exceeds the relevant income threshold. The reduction is 41 per cent of the excess over the threshold.

For 2021 to 2022 awards, the initial calculation of a family’s entitlement is based on its relevant income in 2020 to 2021 after those awards were finalised. (Although most new claims for tax credits ended in January 2019, a small number of claimants continued to make new claims during 2021 to 2022 and in those cases, the 2020 to 2021 income will be taken from their claim form).

Relevant income comprises gross annual taxable income from social security benefits (except pensions) and from employment or self-employment, less pension contributions; plus annual income from savings, property, state and private pensions and other sources (but excluding maintenance) in excess of £300.

For claims by couples, entitlement is based on their joint annual income.

Final entitlement for 2021 to 2022 will be based on 2021 to 2022 income, if that is more than £2,500 lower than the income in 2020 to 2021, or exceeds it by more than £2,500.

However, the first £2,500 of a fall in income or the first £2,500 rise in income in 2021 to 2022 is disregarded in calculating the tax credit due for that year. The family can report an estimate of its income in 2021 to 2022 at any time, and the award will be recalculated using this income. After the end of the year, the award is finalised when the 2021 to 2022 income is known.

Changes of circumstance

A family’s circumstances (such as number of children, hours worked, childcare costs, and disabilities) can change within the year. To calculate the annual award, the year is then split into the periods between which the family’s circumstances changed.

Entitlement is calculated for each period, based on the annual values shown in Appendix B but scaled down to the number of days in the period. The rate of entitlement attributed to each case for this publication is that for the period spanning the reference date.

Data sources

The figures in the tables for in-work families are based on 100% of the data from families with awards at the reference date as at 1 April 2022, extracted from the tax credits computer system on that date. The figures for out-of-work families with children receiving tax credits are based on 100% data from the HMRC system taken at 1 April 2022.

Appendix B: Annual Entitlement (£) by tax credit elements and thresholds

CTC	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Family element	545	545	545	545	545
Family element, baby addition[footnote 1]	-	-	-	-	-
Child element[footnote 2]	2,780	2,780	2,780	2,830	2,845
Disabled child additional element[footnote 3]	3,175	3,355	3,355	3,415	3,435
Severely disabled child element[footnote 4]	1,290	1,360	1,360	1,385	1,390

WTC	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Basic element	1,960	1,960	1,960	3,040	2,005
Couples and lone parent element	2,010	2,010	2,010	2,045	2,060
30 hour element[footnote 5]	810	810	810	825	830
Disabled worker element	3,000	3,165	3,165	3,220	3,240
Severely disabled adult element	1,290	1,365	1,365	1,390	1,400
50+ return to work payment[footnote 6]: 16 but less than 30 hours per week	-	-	-	-	-
50+ return to work payment[footnote 6]: at least 30 hours per week	-	-	-	-	-

Childcare element: Maximum eligible costs allowed (£ per week)	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Eligible costs incurred for 1 child	175	175	175	175	175
Eligible costs incurred for 2+ children	300	300	300	300	300
Percentage of eligible costs covered	70%	70%	70%	70%	70%

Common features	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
First income threshold[footnote 7]	6,420	6,420	6,420	6,530	6,565
First withdrawal rate	41%	41%	41%	41%	41%
Second income threshold[footnote 8]	-	-	-	-	-
Second withdrawal rate	-	-	-	-	-
First income threshold for those entitled to CTC only[footnote 9]	16,105	16,105	16,105	16,385	16,480
Income increase disregard[footnote 10]	2,500	2,500	2,500	2,500	2,500
Income fall disregard[footnote 10]	2,500	2,500	2,500	2,500	2,500
Minimum award payable	26	26	26	26	26

1. Payable to families for any period during which they have one or more children aged under one. Abolished 6 April 2011. ↩

2. Payable for each child up to 31 August after their 16th birthday, and for each young person for any period in which they are aged under 20 (under 19 to 2005 to 2006) and in full-time non-advanced education, or under 19 and in their first 20 weeks of registration with the Careers service or Connexions. ↩

3. Payable in addition to the child element for each disabled child. ↩

4. Payable in addition to the disabled child element for each severely disabled child. ↩

5. Payable for any period during which normal hours worked (for a couple, summed over the two partners) is at least 30 per week. ↩

6. Payable for each qualifying adult for the first 12 months following a return to work. Abolished 6 April 2012. ↩ ↩²

7. Income is net of pension contributions, and excludes Child Benefit, Housing benefit, Council Tax benefit, maintenance and the first £300 of family income other than from work or benefits. The award is reduced by the excess of income over the first threshold, multiplied by the first withdrawal rate. ↩

8. For those entitled to the CTC, the award is reduced only down to the family element, plus the baby addition where relevant, less the excess of income over the second threshold multiplied by the second withdrawal rate. Abolished effective 6 April 2012. ↩

9. Those also receiving Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Pension Credit are passported to maximum CTC with no tapering. ↩

10. Introduced from 6 April 2012, this drop in income is disregarded in the calculation of tax credit awards. ↩ ↩²