Should Labour abolish the two child benefit cap?

[changefromhr]

In two minds about this. Yes for those who find themselves on benefits after having more than two children (job loss, divorce etc) but perhaps not for those who choose to have more than two children when they have never worked (disabled families excepted).

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/11/uk-two-child-benefit-cap-affected-1-6-million-children-last-year-figures-show

I thought people who were already claiming it could continue? It was only for children not yet born that the cap applied

Most of the parents I know would have had more children if finances weren’t an issue. They deliberately stopped at two max. They also waited until they were in their 30s to have children so that they were financially secure. Why should their taxes pay for other people to have a third or fourth child?

I agree with this. The problem with continuing any status quo because someone will suffer somewhere down the line is that things can never change.
We cannot afford the benefits bills we pay now, yet some are calling for benefits to increase to pay for as many children as someone wants. We can't pay in vouchers because they is a no-on too, evidently.
Yes, absent parents should be hunted down, but if they are on benefits too (highly likely in a lot of these circumstances) they will pay £5 a month or so, so that's not going to be a magic bullet either.
So if we can't let children suffer and we can't pay in vouchers to ensure any extra money does at least benefit the children and we can't rely on the other parent to meaningfully contribute, yet we can't as a nation afford larger benefits bills.
Can I ask what people suggest is they way forward?

I also posted another post with some options to help kids in poverty that doesn't involve giving more money to parents.

I'm not punishing any children! Parents have a responsibility to decide if they can afford more children. Like plenty of people have pointed out, they chose not to have more than one or two children as they felt they couldn't provide for more than that. Surely all parents should be able to make these decisions before having more children they can't afford?
Obviously it's different if someone already had the kids they could afford then their situation changed, but choosing to have children when you can't afford it shouldn't be encouraged. Which is what removing the cap would do.

I am not saying people shouldn't have more children. They can have 20 kids if they can afford that, but people shouldn't have 20 kids if they expect to fund it with government money.

I agree that more money should be spent on children already living in poverty in the forms of free school meals, help with bills etc.

Because it stops these type of parents decide to have a 3 child for the money, that will end up also living in poverty.

Does it? I thought there is no evidence that it reduces the number of children a family has, nor has encouraged parents into employment. It has however pushed more children into poverty.

Then it is time the government focuses on why people are having more children than they can afford and actively choosing to raise their children in poverty. It is not the government pushing children into poverty- it is the parents

Why only 'single' parents?...

I suspect there are two parent families where both work but earn under the living wage that are entitled to claim benefits.

Should they have theirs stopped because they choose to be a two parent family?

I resent paying for peoples 3rd, 4th, 5th kid when I stopped at 2 because that's all I could afford.

It tends to be single parents rather than two parent houses whose only income is benefits

You're not really though. If you added it up I don't think it would be a full penny that translated from your tax to one persons benefits

@serialcatbuyer There has to be a limit. No one is saying you can not have children. The limit is there so people think before having more than 2, especially if you are already struggling to clothe and feed the children you already have.

Take responsibility for your own kids, 2 is enough for anyone, what happens in the rest of Europe

No they should raise the income tax thresholds instead and let families make their own decision about how many children they can afford.

Honestly I don’t see why households without children should be subsidising households who choose to have more that two children.

Yes. The idea people were scratching a living from the meagre child benefit is nonsense. The government has an ethical mandate to support all it's citizens not just those who complain the loudest.

The limit is there so people think before having more than 2, especially if you are already struggling to clothe and feed the children you already have.

Agree...100% this...

Also if a person is struggling to clothe and feed the DC they already have why would they want to bring more into the world.

I think child benefit is important to help keep children out of poverty as much as possible.

Personally, I'd drop the 2 child limit but also lower the salary at which you no longer qualify. No child in a £119k household is at risk of being in poverty and it undermines the idea that the purpose of the benefit is to tackle childhood poverty if it goes to such high income homes.

Do you really think that CB is the reason people have children? CB does a tiny amount to lift children out of poverty- the cap is mean spirited in the extreme.

I think it's more the university credit/child tax credit benefit people are talking about. No idea how much it is, but it's a lot more than children benefit is for each child.

I think people need to take emotions out of it. It isn't about what is fair for their parents or for you. It should be about what is best for these children and for society. They are still being born, whether you like it or not, it would be wise to at least try to give them a fighting chance.

It isn't at all and it's not just child benefit is it ,it's universal credit and prior to that tax credits
I appreciate if you reasonably well offc and live in a nice area you won't meet such families
But I live in a deprived area in social housing ,absolutely there were families that chose to live on benefits ,rather than work ,and prior to 2017 families got extra tax credits / universal credit for every child ,the philpotts ,and Shannon Matthews families were an extreme example of that.

To clarify you can get child benefit for unlimited children. The cap applies to the UC child rate that you do not receive for more than 2 children. This has been in place since 2017, so people are aware that they will not receive large amounts of money for 3+ children. There are extenuating circumstances such as multiple births and if you have a disability within the household the cap does not apply.

This seems reasonable to me.

No but ,tax credits and universal credit can be worth considerably more than child benefit.

I totally agree with this. Give the DC the free school breakfast and lunches. Uniform vouchers are also good so no child goes into school looking scruffy.

The annual total of unclaimed income-related benefits and social tariffs is now approximately £19 billion.
Approximately £7.5 billion of Universal Credit goes unclaimed by 1.2 million eligible households. Take-up rates for means-tested benefits vary, with Council Tax Support being the most underclaimed, followed by social tariffs, particularly broadband social tariffs. We have the opportunity to ensure that millions of people receive the support they are entitled to in a wealthy country.

There is ample funding available to assist those in need, supporting the social contract between the government and its citizens.