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From the archive · Press release
Tackling Child Poverty
A 2001 call to families in East Ham to check the tax credits and benefits they could claim.
Originally published 20 December 2001
From the archive. Between 1998 and 2003 this domain carried the constituency website of the Member of Parliament for East Ham. This page keeps one of its items as a historical record, with the original date restored. East Ham Ledger, which publishes the site today, is an independent magazine and has no link to any MP, party or Parliament; contact details and the names of private individuals have been removed, and lost pictures have been replaced with credited photographs of the places concerned.
Pictured today: Photo: Ian S / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, is urging people to take advantage of the increased Government support for family finances. As part of the Government’s commitment to halve child poverty in ten years, there have been record rises in child benefit, the Working Families Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
Under the present Government, families with children in the bottom fifth of the population are on average £1700 a year better off. Stephen Timms is encouraging people to contact their local Benefits Agency and find out if they are entitled to claim further benefits or tax credits.
An example of the Government’s efforts to tackle child poverty is the new Children’s Tax Credit, which provides many families with a tax break of up to a £442 a year. Child Benefit has also risen to £15.50 for the first child in April 2001 - a 26 per cent increase in child benefit to its highest ever level. In 2003 there will be a new system of child support introduced, bringing together all income- related payments for children, making the benefits system easier to use and understand.
Stephen Timms says:
" All of us should be concerned about child poverty - this Government has done more than any before to tackle the issue. All of us will be better off if we can give our youngsters the best start in life, and that is this Government’s aim."
