Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Work and Pensions
As promised at the Hearing on Tuesday 27 November,
set out below is further information on the campaign to increase
take up of Working Tax Credit.
BACKGROUND
Working Tax Credits (WTC) are designed to support
people who are working and on a low income. It is available to
families with and without children. People without children are
eligible for WTC if they:
— work more than 30 hours a week; and
— earn less than £11,700 (or £16,300
as a couple).
Overall the take-up of Working Tax Credit was
61% in 2004-05. However, for those eligible without children,
the take-up was 19%, compared with 82% for Child Tax Credit as
a whole and 97% for Child Tax Credit among the lowest paid. Marketing
activity therefore focussed on those eligible for WTC without
children.
Qualitative research highlighted some of the
key reasons why they may not be claiming:
— Customers had broad awareness of
tax credits, but very limited awareness of WTC.
— They believed that tax credits are
for young families with children—and therefore assumed that
they would not be eligible.
A campaign has therefore specifically been designed
to address this.
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
HMRC developed a campaign to promote WTC in
late October and November. They established 35 target regions
for the campaign, based on take-up of WTC and the proportion of
eligible people living in the area. The target regions for Scotland
were Greater Glasgow, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, Clackmannanshire
and Eilean Siar.
The campaign incorporated four weeks of radio
advertising starting w/c 29 October. The advertising ran in 20
of the target regions. HMRC aimed to reach approximately 7.6m
people, which is around 75% of the population of all 35 target
regions. In Scotland the main area targeted with radio was Glasgow.
In addition, leaflets were delivered to around
1.2 million households within all 35 of the priority areas including
all target regions in Scotland. We targeted households in specific
postcode areas where there are a high proportion of people in
social class C1 C2 D E who are aged 25-44 with no dependent children.
In addition, we also delivered leaflets to specific postcode areas
in other regions with a high proportion of eligible people, reaching
approximately an additional 1.6 million households. The door drops
took place over two weeks from w/c 12 November.
HMRC will now be evaluating the effectiveness
of this campaign.
WORKING WITH
EMPLOYERS
HMRC is also seeking to work in partnership
with employers and trade unions to promote the take-up of Working
Tax Credits among their employees and members. Using industry
data, we are targeting employment sectors most likely to employ
people eligible for WTC; these are hotels, restaurants and bars;
personal services (ie cleaning, nurseries) and sales occupations.
So far, we have confirmed activity with three
employers who have a presence in Scotland, and are discussing
opportunities to work with a number of other organisations who
employ people in Scotland.
Department for Work and Pensions
13 December 2007
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