Working For Families

a review of the scheme and it was part of the Government’s ‘‘medium- to long-term work programme’’.

The scheme has been seriously expanded since being introduced in 2004, but has not been the subject of root and branch reform.

Further in the paper, the officials mention that the upcoming review was decided on in November 2019 when Cabinet considered its response to the welfare-system review it started after the 2017 election, otherwise known as the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) report.

‘‘As part of the welfare overhaul work programme, the Government also agreed to a review of Working for Families tax credits, including the [minimum family tax credit],’’ the officials wrote.

The key goals of the Working For Families tax credits are to support low- and middle-income families and to make sure that working does not financially harm families by removing their eligibility for other benefits.

The WEAG report did recommend sweeping reform of the scheme, replacing the in-work and the minimum family tax credits with a new earned income tax credit and massively increasing abatement rates.

This new tax credit would be available even to families without children – a key change to the current scheme. It also recommended making the Best Start payment universal up to age 3.

It is unclear how far the review will go towards these goals.

The officials . . . were worried that the increase in the abatement threshold may ‘‘increase the cost of options’’.