Child benefit changes: 700,000 families to be hammered
NEARLY 700,000 families will lose more than £1,000 a year under Government proposals to means-test child benefit, a study predicted yesterday.
The figures will fuel demands for the Treasury to relent on plans next year to strip the payments from all households that include a higher rate taxpayer.
The Government recently signalled it was looking at ways to ease the pain although Chancellor George Osborne says the basic policy is unchanged.
The proposals mean a household where one person earns enough to pay income tax at 40 per cent – £42,475 a year – will lose all child benefit. But a family where two people each earn under the higher rate threshold – up to £84,950 between them – keep the payments.
RELATED...
A Government in a civilised society should not do anything which makes matters worse for children.
THE BABY MACHINE: MOTHERS WHO COST YOU £1MILLION A YEAR
PARENTS OF TRUENTS TO BE STRIPPED OF CHILD BENEFIT
Research by financial services provider NFU Mutual forecast that 680,000 families will lose out.
Of these, 180,000 have only one earner, adding weight to criticism that the plan will penalise families where a mother stays at home to look after the children.
Lib Dem MP Sir Bob Russell, who has signed a written Parliamentary motion urging child benefit to continue for all parents, said: “A Government in a civilised society should not do anything which makes matters worse for children.”
He went on: “People who earn big salaries pay big income tax. Therefore child benefit should remain a universal benefit.’’
Child benefit is £1,055.60 a year for the eldest child and £696.80 a year for each subsequent child.