22 June 1999
CAMPAIGN TO SHOW HOW TO MAKE WORK PAY
A major advertising campaign to alert the public to the new Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) is to be launched later this year, Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo said today.
The campaign, which will feature television and newspaper adverts, will run from September. Information packs will be made available to practitioners and interested parties, and details of the tax credit will be placed in jobs centres around the country. A series of regional Ministerial conferences designed to inform practitioners and other interested groups of the new tax credit will run alongside the campaign. WFTC is due to come into force from October this year.
Ms Primarolo said:
"WFTC is a key part of the Government's campaign to take millions of people out of the employment and poverty trap. By providing a tax credit through the wage packet to those on low incomes, WFTC will encourage people into work, and give them back the opportunity to rise up the employment ladder. Not only will it provide 3 million children with an extra £15 a week, and help over 1.5 million families throughout the UK, but it will lift 1.3 million people out of poverty and give hundreds of thousands of children a decent start in life.
"The advertising campaign will help people discover if they are eligible for WFTC, which will provide them with a decent living wage. Not only that, but those eligible for the new tax credit will also get help paying for childcare costs - which have been a major obstacle to work in the past".
Ms Primarolo will be meeting representatives of the Early Years Development Group to outline the help available for childcare costs, and representatives of disabled groups to discuss the new Disabled Persons Tax Credit, also coming into force in October.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The advertising campaign will run over three months and cost approximately £12 million. It will start in early September with a high profile television campaign comprising a launch commercial, followed by five different commercials aimed at a variety of groups ranging from unemployed people through to those in different income bands ranging from £13k to £22k.
TV will be reinforced by a national press campaign which will support and reinforce the key messages. This campaign is designed to give people in different income bands an idea of money that they could be entitled to under WFTC, so that individuals can make an assessment of their potential eligibility.
There will be considerable promotional activity running throughout this period, including information in Post Offices and Job Centres.