Tax credit change 'will cost families £1,000'

Half a million working families will lose more than £1,000 under technical changes to tax credit allowances in the emergency Budget, according to research by unions.

The change will save the Government about £550m a year but will hit families whose earnings fall because of unemployment, illness, retirement or bereavement, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) claimed.

The TUC general-secretary, Brendan Barber, said yesterday: "In his emergency Budget speech, the Chancellor promised not to hide any hard choices from the British people or bury them in the small print of the Budget documents.

"But this cut in tax credit entitlements was hidden in the detail and will make a real difference to some of our poorest and most vulnerable families, costing at least half a million households a year more than £1,000."