To think the child benefit arrangements are unfair?

[MobLife]

Only just clocked this and I'm still not 100% sure I've got it right because it seems wrong...
So if 2 parents are both earning £49,999 and hence taking in almost £100k household income they can continue to claim full CB

But

2 parents where the household income is way under that (lets say for arguments sake £70k) and one parent is earning the greater proportion (between £50-60k) will either get a much reduced CB amount or potentially nothing at all?

How is that fair??!

If you don’t believe me use the damn calculator. Enter your circs, and then amend them to the circumstances described.

the calculator itself is the one competent part of the system 😂

First, a 50K + salary is a problem that I would dearly love to have. It's highly unlikely that I will ever have that much money. Second, it's most unfair for lone parents who earn just enough to not get CB. A couple could have almost 100K coming in between them and still qualify, or a SAHP to do the housework and childcare that the lone parent earning that kind of money probably has to pay to outsource or knacker themself fitting round work. It definitely needs to go on household income really. Universal credit is another example where lone parents get less than couples when their costs per salary are probably more.

Look - you yourself have just said you get ~£700 p/m in tax credits.

2 kids, one severely disabled yeah?

that would mean your husband earns around 24k.

change it to 4 kids. The award will go up by about £450, to around £1150

that family is in those circumstances.

The taper rate means they lose 41p in every £1.

this means that if they go from 24k to 50k, they lose £10660 from their tax credit annual award.

115p /4 * 52 = 14950 total annual award. That is more than £10660 - so they still have an entitlement at 50k

it really is that simple.

He earns around £18k I wish minimum wage was £24k!

As a single parent earning my ass off within 50-60k bracket I wholeheartedly agree.

*working my ass off

right - ok.

in that case you are getting less tax credits than you are entitled to, unless

• you have additional income
• your circumstances are different than you described
• you are paying back an overpayment from previous years

you have two kids right?

one qualifies for the highest rate of DLA?

your husband works full time?

this is what you should be getting - 877 in child tax credit and 35.26 in working tax credits.

there is something wrong with your claim, or your circumstances are different from the above. If not - Find out why! It could be worth £200 every 4 weeks.

id be on the phone to tax credits Monday if I were you. I sincerely hope this helps 👍

@x2boys genuinely - if what you say is correct, You may also be able to get a back payment because tax credits have been underpaying you. Please look into it 🙏

@SwanBuster i missed off carers allowance ( sorry it slipped my mind 🤣) so it probably is correct but the family you mentioned the non working partner would have also been allowed to claim carer,s allowance, so what they would have gained on one hand they would have lost with another

It's probably time to scrap it completely and build it into universal credit payments for those who need it the most. We only have a modest joint income of about £56k and the money is useful but we shouldn't really be eligible for any government support.

Ok. Well that changes things significantly then. So your household income is around £24k, as I said.

anyway - look, this has been a bit of an unnecessary time sink, so I’m off to get on with other jobs.

The family I described gets what it gets, and it’s better off net on 50k than 60k. Hopefully I’ve now provided sufficient information for you to believe it but if not than who cares.

Even more unfair on single parents who are earning over the max threshold

Maybe CB could be paid in a lump sum at birth?

1st child full CB for 16 years would account to approx £18k.
If families had that upfront (with some kind of boundaries around how it could be spent) then could that have the potential to lift people out of poverty?
For example, someone who is struggling to pay childcare (often costlier in the early years) could use that to pay for childcare that would facilitate work or study?
Not a perfect system but a possible alternative!

2 parents income living in 1 household are not comparable regarding any scenario. It's the way it is.

2 incomes are always going to be ahead in many ways.

But even as a single parent I don't understand why others don't understand there has to be a cut off with ALL benefits other wise where would it end? For those saying your just "below" 🙄 your Below end of.

It's just advising you that if you get paid between £50-£60k then you wouldn't need to pay all of it back so might be worth taking the money if that's your situation. Once you go over £60k you'd need to pay all of it back

You need or needed to leave your abusive husband and that IS the issue. Your husband what a pig!!

I was thinking the same lately. i think income threshold for high tax charge on child benefit should be increased to £60k as cost of living has increased

Anyone can claim. If there is a higher earner in the household then some or all of it would have to be paid back via a self assessment tax return

At £51k you would only pay a very small amount back. You only pay back all of it once you reach £60k. Think its 10% paid back for every £1k over £50k.

2 incomes are always going to be ahead in many ways.

That is precisely why the tax system should adjust to make sure that - at the very least - a single parent isn't taxed more than a two parent household with the same income.

To actually penalise those already in a more difficult position is disgraceful.

Yes all tax thresholds/ cut-offs for the tax-free allowance or higher rate tax or CB or tax free childcare or "free hours" at nursery should be index-linked and uprated annually. As well as those thresholds being doubled for one adult households.

This is the one policy that would get me to vote for whoever was going to implement it.

Totally. Until this year - when luckily for me my youngest turns 18- my husband and I have both been earning just under £50 grand each. It’s bonkers.

Obviously the doubling of all thresholds for single adult households is crucial. This would prevent massive poverty for single childless people, too. It's not hard. For TFC you have to make a declaration of who you live with etc every 3 months, reconfirm your details. All automated. Only changes are followed up. Taxing on a household basis is not that hard, it could be done easily as Government IT systems exist that can do it already. The point is they don't want to. They demonise single parents. They bang on about "hard-working families" ignoring the fact that single working parents are the ones working hardest of all as they are doing two people's jobs.

Probably much easier to scrap child benefit. Then it can't be unfair.