Tax Credits Act 2002 section Schedule 3 paragraph 16

Amendment of Children Act 1989 section 17 (provision of services for children in need)

Schedule 3 paragraph 16 amends section 17 of the Children Act 1989 to update references to the old tax credits (working families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit) and replace them with the new tax credits system (child tax credit and working tax credit), for the purposes of determining eligibility for local authority services for children in need.

• The old references to working families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit are removed from the definition of income used to assess need for children's services.
• New references are inserted to the non-family element of child tax credit and to working tax credit, reflecting the replacement tax credits system.
• A new power is given to the Treasury to make regulations setting out when a person is to be treated as receiving the non-family element of child tax credit or working tax credit for the purposes of children's services provision.
• These changes ensure that the means-testing framework for local authority children's services aligns with the new tax credits introduced by the Tax Credits Act 2002.

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