Working tax credit

WTC can be claimed by working individuals, childless couples and working families with dependent children. In addition, people may also be entitled to Child Tax Credit (CTC) if they are responsible for any children. WTC and CTC are assessed jointly and families remain eligible for CTC even if where no adult is working or they have too much income to receive WTC. In 2010 the coalition government announced that the Working Tax Credit would, by 2017, be integrated into and replaced by the new Universal Credit. However implementation of this has been repeatedly delayed and may not be finished until 2022. From 2018 no new claims can be made for Working Tax Credit, only Universal Credit. But existing WTC claimants will not be all transferred to UC until 2022. The WTC replaced the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), which operated from April 1999 until March 2003. The WFTC was itself a transitional system from the earlier benefit for working families known as Family Credit (FC), which had been in operation since 1986.