National statistics

Quality Report: Personal tax credits finalised award statistics - Small area data 2020 to 2021

Updated 22 November 2022

1. Introduction

The personal tax credits finalised awards statistics publication at Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and at the Data Zone for Scotland, consist of a series of tables showing the number of families in receipt of tax credits in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland as at 31 August 2020. The tables also show the number of children corresponding to each tax credits recipient families at the lower super output area or Data Zone. Information on the number of tax credits recipient families and the number of children is also published at the local authority and regional levels.

Tax credits were introduced in April 2003 replacing Working Families’ Tax Credit, Disabled Person’s Tax Credit and Children’s Tax Credit. They are an important part of the Government’s policy aims to provide adequate financial incentives to work, reduce child poverty and to increase financial support for all families.

Working Tax Credits (WTC) provide in-work support for people on low incomes, with or without children. It is available for in-work support to people who are aged at least 16 and meet a certain criteria.

Child Tax Credits (CTC) provide income-related support for children and qualifying young people aged 16 to 19 who are in full time, non-advanced education or approved training into a single tax credit, payable to the main carer. Families can claim CTC whether or not the adults are in work.

More information about eligibility can be found on the HMRC website: https://www.gov.uk/browse/benefits/tax-credits

2. Relevance

These annual statistics provide a geographical breakdown of the number of tax credits recipient families and children in those families for the United Kingdom. These are National Statistics, and the month of publication is indicated on HMRC’s release schedule with the exact date being published at least 28 days before its release on HMRC’s statistics release calendar.

The statistics contained in this publication will therefore be of interest for anyone that is looking for detailed geographical estimates of the number of families receiving Tax Credits.

3. Accuracy and reliability

The published tables are based on the 2020 to 2021 finalised awards data, which in turn is based on 100% of tax credit administrative data available for that period, and therefore are not subject to sampling error.

This publication has been produced in line with UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for producing official statistics and have also been independently checked by a step-by-step quality assurance process.

4. Timeliness and punctuality

The personal tax credits small area data (LSOA and Data Zone) statistics release was first published in 2007 and is produced with enough time to produce the analysis, carry out quality assurance and prepare the right format for publication. The release has since been published each year on the pre-announced date.

5. Accessibility and clarity

HMRC has an increased focus on accessibility and all documents published for this release have met the Department’s accessibility requirements. More information can be found on the website here: https://hmrcdigital.blog.gov.uk/category/accessibility/

The personal tax credits small area data (LSOA and Data Zone) statistics are free and accessible to users via the UK National Statistics publication hub: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics .

Publications are available in PDF and Excel formats and can easily be downloaded by users. Latest publications are available in HTML and Open Document Spreadsheet (ODS) formats in compliance with the new accessibility requirements.

You can also access the previous publications by visiting the HMRC’s statistics on The Nation Archives website.

6. Coherence and comparability

Although the data for these statistics were derived from the same data source that was used to produce the Child and Working Tax Credits Finalised annual awards Geographical Analysis, these two publications are not comparable as the latter covers tax credits entitlements over the whole tax year, whereas this publication only takes a snapshot as at 31 August.

It is also difficult to fully compare this publication with any previous releases due to the numerous policy changes affecting Child and Working Tax Credits over the past ten years. Changes in geographical boundaries and area codes have also had an impact on time series analysis which, where relevant, are explained in the publication itself.

7. Trade-offs between output quality components

We are committed to ensuring these statistics are as accurate as possible and to minimise revisions due to errors, as such, the data will be published in a timely manner considering the time needed to carry out full and robust quality assurance.

8. Assessment of user needs and perceptions

Users can provide feedback by contacting the relevant statistician whose details are provided in the publication.

HMRC launched a wide-ranging consultation on a range of statistics on 8 February 2021.

This includes changes to a number of tax credits statistics releases including a proposal to cease publication of the Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: small area data release due to the number of tax credit customers declining as they move to Universal Credit. More details are given in the consultation.

Following this consultation, HMRC has taken the decision to publish only the number of families benefiting from the tax credits and the number of children in these families at the regional, local authority and the lower super output area (LSOA) from August 2019 onwards.

9. Performance, cost and respondent burden

Most of the datasets used for this analysis are taken from the tax credits administrative data which is processed at the time of producing the Child and Working Tax Credits Finalised annual awards Geographical Analysis and therefore the cost of carrying out this analysis is minimal. The compilation of these statistics does not impose any additional burden on employees or employers.

10. Confidentiality, transparency and security

All datasets used for these statistics are stored in a Controlled Access Folders (CAFs) which are accessible to a few analysts who have a demonstrable business need to access the data.

HMRC is committed is to the efficient management of information to ensure our records are compliant with

• UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) 2018
• The Data Protection Act 2018
• The Data Protection Act 1998
• The Public Records Act 1968
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) (in particular the Code of Practice on Records Management issued under s46 FOI which requires that public authorities have effective record-keeping arrangements in place).

Under the guidelines for pre-release access, information contained in the tables is not given out in final form one day before publication and then only to nominated officials and ministers whose names are published on the HMRC website.