The House of Lords recently blocked Chancellor George Osborne's plans to make cuts of £4.6bn to income subsidies for people on low incomes, known as tax credits. The government argues that other changes, including an increase in the minimum wage and raising the tax allowance will offset the cuts for most households. But those changes are set to take effect over the coming years, while the tax credit cuts will be imposed from April next year. The graphic below shows House of Commons Library research on how the planned changes would affect a low income family*.