The tax credit system needs a major overhaul. At present if you are without children you can only claim if you work 30 hours a week or more. So we don't 'all' get tax credits - far from it.

The problem is this:

Increasingly work patterns are changing and there is a recognised growing problem of people being stuck in underemployment. ie they cannot find full-time or steady work and are forced to take low wage/part time jobs under 30 hours a week and consequently do NOT qualify for tax credits.

They are who the Joseph Rowntree Foundation identified (amongst others) as the hidden poor. People stuck below the breadline but who fall through all the gaps in the tax and benefit system. These people are struggling badly - I know because I work with them through my job and I was in the same position myself not long ago. I'm currently in a very tenuous position and could fall into this trap myself again very easily.

It's not just people with children who struggle - at least there is a recognised system of tax credits and benefits to assist families. I'm not saying that's wrong - but there is also a very real problem of poverty amongst single people trying to survive on low part time wages because it's all they can get, and because they don't want to go on Jobseeker's Allowance.