HUNDREDS of families in Worcester and more than 1,200 across Worcestershire are set to lose almost £4,000 a year unless they can significantly increase their working hours.

If the coalition government does not alter its course then 330 couples with children in part-time work in Worcester will lose all of their £3,870 a year – or about £75 a week – working tax credit.

Under changes due to come into effect on Friday, April 6, couples with children earning less than about £17,700 a year will have to work a total of 24 hours a week to qualify for working tax credit rather than 16 hours as at present.

Joy Squires, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Worcester, is urging the Conservative-led government to reconsider its proposal but the city’s Tory MP said that will not happen and criticised his opponent and her party’s stance.

Mrs Squires said: “This is a deeply unfair change from a government that is increasingly out of touch with parents feeling the squeeze and struggling to juggle work and family life. I am very concerned about the 685 children in the families that may be badly affected by this change. With unemployment rising and the economy going into reverse, many employers are cutting people’s hours.

“In this climate, very few people in part-time work will be able to increase their hours by up to 50 per cent.”

Mrs Squires echoed Labour’s Treasury spokeswoman Cathy Jamieson who described the situation as a “bombshell” which will hit those “trying to do the right thing”. “For many families here in Worcester, it means going out to work won’t pay and they’ll be better off on benefits,” she said. “That makes no economic sense at all. The Government urgently needs to think again.”

Imran Hussain, from Child Poverty Action Group, said many families would struggle to meet the new requirement of hours. But John O’Connell, from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the tax system was “too complicated and too burdensome”.

He suggested having a lower tax burden and lifting the personal allowance to £10,000. Robin Walker, Worcester’s Conservative MP, agreed when he said: “A lot of people I have spoken to understand that there cannot be as much money given out by government. Of course, it’s a shame that some will miss out but a lot of people understand these are tough times and government has to manage things more effectively.

"It is better not to take money from people in the first place than to take it away and then give some of it back."

Mr Walker said people need to look at the bigger picture and see initiatives such as raising the income tax threshold as ways of counterbalancing changes like this.

Mr Walker challenged Labour to come up with a solution. “Unfortunately, Labour has lost the plot a bit on this one,” he said. “They say they are all in favour of welfare reform but but then oppose every individual part of it that comes up for discussion.

"Until they get their act together and decide what they would do and how they would deliver their own initiatives they have no credibility.”