To think adding more child benefits is a pointless and futile policy?

[MelissaExplainsItAll]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/26/parents-under-fives-could-be-exempted-two-child-benefit-cap-uk

I think child poverty would be better relieved in ways other than giving the parents more cash.

For example:

• better funded breakfast and after school clubs
• better funded nursery hours (banning top up charges)
• expansion of free school meals
• better school funding
• direct funding of school holiday clubs

AIBU?

Yep,I spent over an hour to child maintenance today after getting a latter saying my sons absent dad won't need to pay more,he paid £31 last July but as he hasn't told then his address they can't chase him or enforce anything so I have to hope he has an attack on conscious, but after 12 years of him dodging paying I doubt it, child maintenance do nothing and I'm left bearing the brunt financially,also just had my uc cut by £190 as I get child benefit for 2 children, helpful

Totally agree, it is up to an individual how many kids they have- but they need to be able to afford the children they choose to have.

I agree with the child maintenance. Honestly I think it should just come off pay checks like tax for everyone.

But now they dock ur uc if ur child benefit takes you over the benefit cap,and they've taken more uc off me than I get in child benefit anyway, just pushing me further into poverty while the child maintenance service do nothing to address the fact my sons dad hasnt paid anything since he paid £31 last July,it's the children that suffer sadly and free school meals doesn't bridge the gap of losing £190 uc

If you're referring to the 2 child limit on UC then it still applies regardless of disability. The only time it doesn't apply is when there are more than 2 children born before April 2017 or in certain circumstances with regards to some multiple births but not all.

Completely agree. People should decide how many children to have. As part of that decision they need to consider how many they can afford to look after.

People consider all sorts of things when planning their families.

Of course. Just because you can afford to look after them doesn't mean you should have children, there are lots of other things to consider as well. But not being able to afford to feed them should be a key decision factor in not having them. Creating a life you don't have the resources to support is irresponsible.

A large amount of universal credit goes to families in private rentals on slightly below average wages.
And a lot of families struggling financially are in that situation due to the excessive rental prices. A private rental 3 bed locally to us is around £1500 minimum, and there's an extreme shortage of council housing.
The housing benefit element when families are renting privately is what needs looking at really rather than the amount of children, a couple with 4 children having rent covered in social housing due to it being under the housing element allowance will be far better off than a couple renting privately with 2 children.

Same. I left my previous job due to having to leave early constantly because child’s nursery couldn’t cope. Then had to turn down a job offer due to childminder backing out. It seems literally impossible to find any childcare facility willing to take my child and I imagine it will be the same with schools. It’s a scary situation when you are basically trapped into poverty and know you also need to save a lot of money for child’s care when they are adults.

Non paying/not adequately paying non resident parents need to be forced to pay by the CMS at the moment it just doesn’t happen and children are left living in poverty. Government needs to clamp down.

Build more social housing. Tax payers money is burnt up paying private rents via Hben/UC housing allowance. Children living in a good standard of housing are more likely to do better than those living in mould and damp. Government needs to clamp down on inadequate housing standards and build more social housing.

Employers need to pay a proper living wage not look for quick fixes such as paying out huge amounts in UC to supplement income whilst some companies boast huge profit. Government needs to clamp down.

Forcing parents to work long hours isn’t always in best interest of children but we do it because we need to. If not women get trapped in lower aid positions and families struggle to survive. Again government need to realise this not just say funded childcare/breakfast etc when they not properly addressing how nurseries/schools can adequately provide this and ratio of children to staff is sometimes risky.

They play a good game tho and get normal people all frustrated and casting the blame on one another instead of government addressing issues and making proper changes.

Only 40% of people who claim UC work. The majority don’t. Agree about excessive rental prices

However 51% of families claim universal credit and only 8.8% of children live in a household where noone is in employment. A large proportion of the 60% not working whilst claiming is disability/health related, or claiming whilst out of employment but without children.

Itisbetter · Today 10:48
So basically you feel that poor children should be cared for and fed away from their parents as much as possible?
No. I think that’s an appalling idea.
This.
There’s an underlying nastiness that somehow poorer parents are worse parents. That is not necessarily true.

The single biggest factor in children growing up poor is parents who aren't in work.

Therefore, support that targets enabling people to work is likely to be most effective in reducing poverty.