Should Labour abolish the two child benefit cap?

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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

@Nobodyknowsitall5 that's not a bad idea-if either you or partner have personally paid in at least 10 years NI ( not given the contribution by virtue of receiving child benefit) then the limit goes up to 4.

I think we need to resign ourselves to the fact a high % of the public are either not very bright or foolhardy, they know the country won’t let them starve/be homeless with small children and act accordingly.

I’m sure I’ll be sneered at for saying this but a few families on my local fb page were discussing how to force the council to give them a bigger house, lo and behold 3 out of 4 were pregnant within a few months and posting again to ask if they’ll ‘be moved to a 4 bed now we will have 4/5 children’.

While people may not have kids to get a property they certainly have them to force the councils hand into giving them a bigger one.

So, what can be done? In my view lots, but only things which will have the intended effect and not be abused by the parents. Free nutritious meals at school, free fruit to take home, free books, dentistry in school. And a no nonsense attitude toward grabby, entitled, greedy parents who are draining public services and saying it still isn’t enough.

It would lift so many children out of poverty. It should be abolished.

A non profit state insurance would be a compromise that places the responsibility for paying for additional children more firmly onto the parents, but would be a safety net should a family genuinely fall into difficulties.

Would it though? I am not saying the CB would not be a help towards better food for instance but I hardly think the amount of £17 a week would lift a child out of poverty. The responsibility to lift a child out of poverty should always be the parents.

I can't see the correlation between more dc than 2 and giving more money lifting dc out of poverty.
Ie the poverty is there not because of one dc not receiving cb.
If it was directly down to giving it straight to the child, yes but unfortunately it doesn't.
It's 170 a month at the moment.

The idea of having kids and expecting someone else to feed them baffles me.
Just raise a family at a size you can afford.

I don’t think it should be reinstated. I also find it hard to believe £40 odd a month or whatever it is is the difference between affording a child and not- children cost considerably more. You can either properly afford a third + child and self fund or can’t so don’t have one.

Its not £40 / month it can be hundred ,s of pounds a month universal credit.

It’s £20 a week. And that can make a huge difference if every penny counts. It’s incredibly unfair to people with more than three children who suddenly find themselves on benefits due to bereavement or marriage break up who could “properly afford” those children when they made the decision to have them.

It's a lot more than £20 / week when you. add on universal credit

Also child benefit isn't capped it's the universal credit that's capped at two children.

It is not child benefit that anyone is talking about - that is already given for as many kids as you have. It is the child element of Universal credit or child tax credits which is worth a few hundred extra a month for each child.
What people also don't recognise is that if the children were born before april 2017 so if you already have four older kids there are many families already getting this child element for 4/5/6 kids. We are looking at over 1k a month just in child element for five kids ! It's unsustainable.

No, children are already prioritised for free childcare places, breakfast clubs, school lunches and there is only so much money in the pot for welfare of the whole population.

As a parent who has more than 2 children I take full responsibility for the financial bringing up of them. I don’t want to rely financially on the state and I don’t want my dcs as adults to rely on the state for financial support. As my immigrant parents taught me being self reliant is best.

Child benefit isn’t capped, universal credit is.

Families on all incomes, even low paid / min wage should be able to afford to raise a couple of kids.

But having more than two children is a luxury. The two child benefit cap has been in place for a while. Having sufficient savings and or insurance to cover expenses if something bad happens should be the norm.

And if those are not possible, don’t have more than two children.

No they aren't. It depends how much you earn. I get UC but earn over the threshold for any of that stuff.

You shouldn’t have children if you can’t afford them. I know plenty of parents that have only one child and would love to have more but worry about the standard of living they could provide for two. Therefore they stick to one.

Why should these people pay more tax so that they can pay for other people’s larger families when they can’t afford their own.

No

Nobody’s asking them to pay more tax. Money can be spent in various ways. It’s a choice. I suggested not raising pensions (including mine, obviously) but that offer has been ignored.

I'm not sure, is it working.. Are the people who have never worked now having less children or are there still people having lots of babies but with less money coming in benefits after two children?

If they’re paying more in benefits, it has to come from somewhere and that usually means everyone else paying more tax. In one way or another.

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

Honestly it would be a good start if every family could actually claim child benefit! My DH earns 65k and I earn 0 so we previously didn’t get it (they’ve now changed the threshold so we get half of it). Meanwhile DH’s sister with a household income of 95k (50+45) gets full child benefit and always has done, despite being a lot richer than us.

I made a suggestion as to where it could come from without anyone paying any more tax.