Delivering high employment

Since 1997, the New Deal has helped over 350,000 young people into jobs. Long-term youth unemployment has fallen by more than 75 per cent and employment has risen by
11/2 million over the same period. Building on the New Deal and reforms to make work pay, Budget 2002 takes further steps to promote employment opportunity across the UK:

image of the number of people in work chart

introducing a new Working Tax Credit from April 2003 and increasing the basic credit in the Working Families' Tax Credit by £2.50 a week from June 2002;

pilots extending eligibility for the New Deal 25+ to jobseekers who have been out of work for 18 months out of the previous three years;

introducing personal mentors to help lone parents into work and extending eligibility for the childcare tax credit; and

launching a new £5 million fund to tackle transport problems that limit employment opportunities in deprived areas.

The Working Tax Credit will be introduced in April 2003 to help make work pay for people on low incomes.

The Working Tax Credit will integrate the support currently available for adults under the Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credits. It will extend in-work support to people on low incomes without children or a disability. On its introduction, the Working Tax Credit will guarantee minimum incomes of:

£183 a week for a single earner couple without children, aged 25 or over and working full time on the minimum wage; and

£237 a week for a family with one child and one earner working full time on the minimum wage.