Chancellor outlines tax credit changes

Chancellor Gordon Brown has promised older
people guaranteed pension increases to ensure every older person is
better off in his pre-budget statement this week.

He pledged a pension increase of at least 2
and a half per cent, or at least £100 per year, while the
winter fuel allowance will be set at £200 per person for the
rest of this parliament.

Brown outlined a new pension credit, which
would help the government achieve the minimum income guarantee for
older people.

Earlier in his pre-Budget statement he said
the working families tax credit would be extended to achieve “an
integrated tax system” for all families as well as making tax
credits available to childless couples. All support for children
will be paid to mothers, whom he described as the “main carer”.