Do you think child benefit should be capped like other benefits ?

[Spendthrifty]

Just had a (v wealthy) family member exclaim that they are v surprised I get child benefit for my new baby as they ‘thought it was capped at 2 children’ .They aren’t really sure though as earn approx 80k so don’t receive it themselves 😣🙄
Feeling very judged and then hear from someone else that said family meme we above believes giving us an extra £13a Week is encouraging people to have more children when they can’t afford it and encourages being a spendthrift .....

Feeling pretty shitty tbh about it is this what people really think

Not sure about the second part, but I wouldn't take it personally. It's not a judgement about you. Just what she believes. Does it matter?

As for the first, I must admit I thought child benefits had changed and there were now limited / no benefits for a 3rd child. I've not investigated though. So her comment was only a reflection that she had a misconception.

Personally I wouldn't take either comment to hearr.

Child benefit also carries a high income tax charge so if an individual in the family earns over £50K they have to pay some back. If they earn £60K + then it all needs to be paid back

Child tax credits/universal credit is limited to 2 children. Child benefit is not capped at 2 children but as I said before a higher earner in the family will mean some needs to be paid back

And some people are arseholes so just ignore them

I too thought there was a cap at 2 children for cb?? We dont get cb but from 50k i think you pay a tax on cb anyway. I dont think cb itself encourages benefit fraud but there is an incentive to keep having children for a bigger property and until recently you would get more benefits the more children you have. This is right because why should children suffer and this is a civilised country but yes of course a small minority who see having MORE children as their meal ticket. To be clear i dont think only the rich should have kids or that women should abort if they cant afford a child but some really do see having more children as a financial option.

I wouldn’t dwell on it as there must be more interesting things to think about that that person’s ignorance or potentially being judgemental.

You get Child Benefit if you’re responsible for bringing up a child who is:

• under 16
• under 20 if they stay in approvededucation or training

Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child.

It’s paid every 4 weeks and there’s no limit to how many children you can claim for

No I don't think it should be capped it's not means tested until over 50k. I don't think it should be included as income for the benefits cap either.

It's an easy misconception to make with the introduction of the 2 children cap just as some believe it stops at 50k. It doesn't stop and as it's paid on taxable income even the 50 - 60k can be misleading.

CB needs scrapping and reworking as it is a totally unfair benefit the way it is at the moment .

CB should be for every child- the bullshit calculation doesn’t help either. Ignore them

@Fionasmammy

I too thought there was a cap at 2 children for cb?? We dont get cb but from 50k i think you pay a tax on cb anyway. I dont think cb itself encourages benefit fraud but there is an incentive to keep having children for a bigger property and until recently you would get more benefits the more children you have. This is right because why should children suffer and this is a civilised country but yes of course a small minority who see having MORE children as their meal ticket. To be clear i dont think only the rich should have kids or that women should abort if they cant afford a child but some really do see having more children as a financial option.

£13 a week is an incentive to have more children? Really?

No because even in a wealthy family there is financial abuse.

I wasn't talking about the 13 quids alone, it's everything else that comes with it. Yes really darling x @youre

If anyone thinks £13/week is a reason to have a child they're fucking delusional

I don’t know a single person who would have another child for the princely sum of £13 a week. How ludicrous.

@Fionasmammy

I wasn't talking about the 13 quids alone, it's everything else that comes with it. Yes really darling x *@youre*

What is everything else that comes with it?

Yeah, children are such money spinners

I'm currently pregnant with dc3. I thought child benefit was capped at 2 children so it's a pleasant surprise to find out that's not the case. £13 a week certainly isn't an encouragement but I won't be turning it down!

We won’t get CB as DH earns too much (and I’ll still be working so no reason to claim and pay the tax) I can’t imagine anyone thinking £13 a week would be the incentive to make anyone have more children, and I don’t think it should be capped at any amount. It’s barely the child’s food for the week if you’re on a lower income, and I don’t agree with the government trying to police how many children people have. Very few people deliberately have more children than the reasonably feel they can afford. £13 a week is unlikely to make much difference to that affordability!

Well it kind of is capped. It's capped at the point of if you earn under 60k you are entitled to some or all of it, if you earn over 60k you are entitled to none of it.
But £13 a week isn't going to feed, clothe and house a child so that's not the reason anyone is having further children.

If someone is on benefits then child benefit is included in the total for the benefit cap.
On universal credit, the rules are a little complicated but all children born before April 2017 are not subject to a limit, just those born after. So max two children unless the 3rd child turns out to be multiple in which case the 3rd child won’t be paid for but the fourth will be (if it’s twins). Also children born as a result of non-consensual sex. So there are exceptions.

Anyone who stupid enough to think that people are having babies so that they can claim £13 a week genuinely isn’t worth having a conversation with at any meaningful level. Some people are so, so dumb. Do you really care about their opinion?

Even if there is a higher earner you should still make a claim for child benefit but you can opt out of the payment. This would protect National Insurance credits for the lower earner/stay at home parent and mean the child gets their National Insurance number automatically when they turn 16.

In Ireland child benefit isn't even means tested.

140 per child per month

210 per child per month
for twins,

280 per month per child for triplets or more.

So if you have 2 children it's €280 per month
If you have twins it's €420
If you have triplets its €840

That's until the age of 18!

@CiderJolly you mean rape right? Non consensual sex is rape.