Do you think we should life the two child benefit cap?

Exactly! I bet the cap has reduced the number of children born to many parents who thought twice about having another child they cannot afford.

Quite frankly if you get with a man who has DC between multiple partners, you have to be aware he's not there for the long game and be very watertight about contraception. There's no need to have a baby with every man you get into a relationship with. The woman is also responsible here, she's not a defenseless actor in the situation.

You don’t know that because you don’t know what would have happened to the number of children being born had the cap NOT been introduced.

Why are those of us who are just about managing financially ‘irresponsible’? We’ve limited the number of children we have, we work hard, we retrain, we try to make ends meet as best as we can. Please can you explain what you consider ‘irresponsible’ about that?

I have. Do you think calling me a troll was respectful? No wonder the country is in the state it's in.

If you think you have been personally attacked report it but from what I have read the op’s posts are eloquent and respectful.

You seem to confuse suggestions with someone pointing out your inconsistencies. You're also making a massively sweeping judgement that anyone who claims benefits having children is irresponsible. Does someone in receipt of disability benefit have a responsibility to not have children then?

No one else is funding me or my children so I have no idea what you're talking about here

Well your income is, which you're saying isn't enough to afford your kids without living hand to mouth. Personally I think you should be paid enough of an income that just by having a couple of kids you shouldn't be living hand to mouth. If we're gonna be consistent with your attitude though,.it sounds like you've been irresponsible with the amount of kids you had of you have that little to play with...and could find yourself in the position of those you're judging on a whim if you or your partner got sick or became disabled.

@newusernamex1000 Maybe be glad you don't have a disabled child?

The 2 child cap still applies if you have a disabled child. It's the amount of benefits you can receive that isn't capped if your child is disabled

Oh ok - I was hoping you might elaborate?

@LeastOfMyWorriesmy ex DH of 20 years, who I had my children with went on and had multiple children with multiple women. Leaving 3 other women on benefits, something has to give. We cannot cap it at 2 for a resident parent while the non resident parent can leave multiple mums on the breadline

Not my problem

I don’t really understand your point here?

I'm very left leaning and I never believed these things until I saw it for myself. There are poor parents who have fallen on bad times and there are poor parents who will always be poor parents, regardless of how much money they have it will not be used to increase the quality of their children's lives. Parents like these want to dump their 3 month old in a Sure Start all day, where in all honesty it had a much better chance. It's such a shame that funding has been cut in this respect.

Yes it is and statistically more likely if you are from a lower socioeconomic group.
I have seen families in my school make a very concerted effort to get staff to write letters of support for DLA because their child has "behavioural problems" which the parents say are suspected autism/ADHD. I don't think they have either, they have often had zero boundaries and chaotic homes, which has affected their behaviour. These children are often very badly behaved when they start in nursery, but improve considerably over the next year or two as they learn about structure/routines/turn taking etc. The parents get very irrate when teachers say there is nothing out of the ordinary to report. These parents know the system and fully intend to make the most of it.

The benefit is for the children. You can't punish them because you think (with no insight into her life) that the mother is irresponsible. She clearly didn't get pregnant with no man involved. I can't believe I got labelled "judgemental" and a "lazy scrounger" on this thread. The judgiest of judgy threads.

For the record, I have received one benefit in my life. The Family Allowance which was a universal benefit until the tories decised it wasn't.

Just to let all the people on this thread who think their miniscule tax is paying for all this. It isn't.

Hence why the UK Govt is up to it's eyes in debt.

This all started with Thatcher. We now have zero assets because everything has been sold off to people obsessed with accumulating money.

A whole thread about money in a UK obsessed with it.

They should use this thread in Modern Studies to show young people that money drives you nuts when you worship it above all else.

It makes you blaim the poorest people because your own life is clearly shite.

The women would claim, and they have two children each. Wouldn't be workable.

And how would you achieve that? By forcing companies to pay even more in wages? Do you honestly think that will work? With much cheaper labour costs abroad, companies will just let even more UK employees go.

Yeah but she will lose a lot of it when they become adults.

We should certainly not be rewarding such irresponsible behaviour!

Care to add any more context to that comment? There must be a way to stop the increasing the divide between the rich and the middle class/ poor. It is abhorrent, it is a global issue and it needs to be fixed. And yes, I think employee wages should improve. Everyone should earn a living wage for a full time honest job.

If CB is so luxurious, and your job doesn't pay, quit right?

If you don't want to pay for people's irresponsible choices, why don't you make those same irresponsible choices yourself? That will make things better. Great argument.

By your logic, perhaps you are living hand to mouth cos you couldn't afford any children yet you've chosen to have them,.they're a lifestyle choice according to this thread...or do the societal reasons your money doesn't stretch suddenly come into play?

No one else is funding me or my children so I have no idea what you're talking about here. I'm not saying, I'm struggling, so someone else should pay - or, regardless of the fact that I'm struggling, I will just continue to make irresponsible choices and other people can pay for them. I don't consent to doing that for other people either.

@LeastOfMyWorries My UC is capped for my daughter or any other children I might have.

My sisters friend isn’t because she has disabled children.

But right now we are not giving her even more money. Why should we?