FAMILIES in Stroud have united to fight cuts to tax credits which will see them lose hundreds of pounds.

More than 580 people in the district have signed a petition which calls for Stroud’s MP, Neil Carmichael, to oppose Chancellor George Osborne’s changes, which are due to effect 3.3 million families.

They want Mr Carmichael to join other Conservative MPs, civil servants and bishops in speaking out against the severity of the cuts, are due to come into effect in April.

Stroud resident Peter Green, 33, and his family will lose around £800 because of the cuts.

He is a bus driver and his partner Laura, 30, works part-time in a café to provide for their two-year-old daughter Robyn. They moved to Stroud after their home in Surrey was devastated by the floods in 2014.

“We lost everything, our possessions and our home was completely destroyed under three feet of water,” said Peter, who was self-employed at the time.

“During that time and in the months after, working tax credits made life possible. We really wouldn’t have been able to bring up our daughter without them.

“Now we’re set to lose around £800 this year as a result of the tax credit cuts.

“And just like hundreds of thousands of people across the country, the increase in minimum wage isn’t going to compensate for it. It’s going to make things a lot harder for millions of people.”

The changes will see people start to lose working tax credits – a type of benefit – when they earn above £3,850, rather than the current threshold of £6,420.

The rate at which tax credit payments are cut is also going to get faster. Currently, for every £1 claimants earn above the threshold, they lose 41p. This is known as the taper rate. From April, the taper rate will accelerate to 48p. So for every pound earned above the threshold, claimants will lose 48p.

More than three million families – 2.7 million of them with children – stand to lose on average £1,300 in the first year alone, research shows.

The Stroud petition, run online by 38 degrees, says: “[George Osborne] wants to cut the special help for low-paid working families – called tax credits – that help pay for food, school uniform, and winter coats. If each of us pressures our MP to speak out, it’ll cause a wave of opposition that could bring the plans to a grinding halt.”

In response, Mr Carmichael said: “Of course I recognise the changes to tax credits are not easy – but they are fair.

“This government is creating new jobs and introducing a National Living Wage so that we don’t have to subsidise wages through tax credits but focus them on those who need them most with lower incomes.”

But Mark Saunders, 52, from Kingscourt in Stroud, said: “My wife and I are self-employed and have two young children. I think the self-employed are being overlooked by this government. We will not benefit from the new National Living Wage.

Another affected person, Mrs W, 43, from Nympsfield, said: “My husband is expanding his small one-man business and cannot afford to take more than a bare minimum salary or the business would risk running aground.

“Working tax credits enable us to bridge this risky period, and without them it would be tricky to meet the rent. Although our situation is temporary, there are and will surely be others like us, whose enterprising spirit Neil Carmichael would wish to support, not undermine.”

Lizzie Fletcher, organiser of 38 degrees Stroud, said the government had taken a U-turn on its pre-election promise not to cut tax credits.

“For families at the bottom, tax credit cuts dwarf any impact of the government’s ‘national living wage’,” she said.

“And people who are self employed will be hit the hardest.

“The Conservatives have claimed to be the party of aspiration – to be helping the ‘strivers’ - but these claims are laid bare when people who are self-employed, entrepreneurs and people starting their own business get their support cut.

“Far from making work pay, this is going to punish millions of hard-working people across the country and drive many below the poverty line.”

Ministers say the changes, estimated to save £4.4bn, are part of wider plans to raise pay and incentivise work.

They argue that the impact of the cuts will be mitigated by the new National Living Wage and higher tax thresholds.

On Tuesday, government MPs voted for the policy on cutting tax credits by 317 to 295, with a majority 22. 

Amy Lockwood, campaigns manager at 38 Degrees, added: “People in Stroud are waiting for their MP to stand up for local working families. How would Neil Carmichael be able to look a constituent in the eye after these cuts?

“Osborne’s plans will simply punish people on low wages who work hard, but still don’t have enough to make ends meet. It will push many families to breaking point.

“But Neil Carmichael has an opportunity to help stop this. That’s why hundreds of people are asking him to join the rising tide of opposition to Osborne’s plans.”