Labour are lifting the 2 child benefit cap

[PuppyKeep]

AIBU that this is a terrible decision?

@TheFairyCaravan do you have an issue with acknowledging facts?

Our ageing population is impacting productivity & will continue to. Acknowledging that doesn't mean kill all pensioners...

In 2022-23 61% of pensioners paid tax. That’s expected to rise to 76% by 2032

Doesn't change the fact that ageing populations are expensive

Grow up

The irony! 😆

Because there are a tiny number of people who WOULD do this, and these "outlier" stories are plastered far and wide across TV, newspapers and social media. The idea that anyone receiving help is a parasite "taking advantage of good working people" is an image is pushed by people in positions of wealth and power who don't want the system to change because it benefits them. When the wealthy pay experts to find legal loopholes for them to avoid tax, it's all perfectly above board. When lower income families get help from the taxpayer to feed their kids, they're presented as "gaming the system". It would be inconvenient to have to confront the reality of just how much normal families are struggling.

I also don't think normal families shout about it enough. There's a shame and a stigma attached: their own parents worked hard and provided, so they feel their hard work should enable them to do the same, and feel they have failed when 2 jobs don't seem to be equating to bills paid and food on the table.

The social contract has broken down. It's awful and complex and difficult to solve. Much more palatable to assume they're all Les Battersby.

Another labour policy, I completely disagree with. Why create an environment encouraging people to have more children they can’t afford. Surely, it’s better to have policies that support children who are already born (and their families). One of the biggest barriers to returning to work (and therefore lower household income) for many women is crippling childcare prices. Why not provide support there? Subsidize after school clubs, holiday clubs etc

Well, when people age you will have an ageing population.

No @ChardonnaysBeastlyCat 🤦🏻‍♀️

That doesnt make sense.

Why would boosting the birth rate to the replacement rate, to keep the total population stable, mean we run out of space?

The replacement rate is 2.1 kids per woman (or, roughtly 1 child per adult).

We've been below that since the late 70s (which is why we're reliant on high immigration, which is not a viable long term solution).

I know three families around my age (late 40s) with more than two children, two are middle class, the third is in a bit of a middle ground I suppose, though working class background. All work.

I grew up in a poor area, two or three children were the norm, I can't think of anyone I grew up with who had more than two siblings, so four children were quite rare let alone more.

Perhaps I'm not normal?

Birth rate is 1.56, replacement rate is 2.1. We don't have too many children.

So?

What makes you think that children impacted by the benefit cap havent been already born? Odd.

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCat

"An ageing population is a demographic trend where the proportion of older people in a society increases relative to younger age groups, causing the average age of the population to rise. This happens due to two main factors: increased life expectancy, as people live longer thanks to better healthcare and living conditions, and declining fertility rates, which mean fewer children are born"

"e UK is experiencing a significant ageing population, with a growing proportion of people aged 65 and over"

"The ratio of working-age people to pensionable-age people is projected to fall, placing greater pressure on the workforce and public services to support a larger older population. "

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCat

@ChardonnaysBeastlyCat so what?

We'd better massively up immigration, then (which I would have no problem with - but I have a feeling there's fair bit of overlap in the old Venn Diagram between those stigmatising people in receipt of benefits and those who object to immigration...)

@ThatDreamyLemonBiscuit no country has reversed a declining birth rate though because society mindset shifts.

The fertility crisis.

People simply arent having enough children and, unless we can find some way to completely overhaul the welfare state, its an economic time bomb.

South Korea and Japan are already on the precipice of societal collapse, and we're not that far behind.

Utterly dismayed. Top 0.03%
For the love of god, tax me.

But lifting it means those families will have more DC- more dc living in poverty.

How do you know this?

After growing up on benefits with a single parent mother and other siblings when benefits were paid at subsistence rates, I strived to do better.

I was a single parent myself, but only had one child and went back to work from maternity leave before they were a year old.

I would have loved to have had more children. But I had what I could afford and had help with child care costs for a few years while I worked nearly full time.

Have you factored in what the workplace will be in 28 years? And what do you think the birth rate needs to be?

One thing I find annoying is that absent parents don't really have to pay and that even if they do maintenance isn't accounted for in benefits payments.

Not sure the UK system really incentivises people to do the right thing.

Such a move would be unfunded by the country, and further add to the dire/unsustainable position of the public finances.

The lack of general understanding - or deliberate denial - of the problem is annoying to frightening.

Hahahaha! This comment wins the thread!

That's a fundamental difference in people. Some take accountability for their actions, some expect Nanny Starmer to sort it out for them,

@Fidgetybit so that's a no then? I would have liked more dc despite never claiming benefits but I like a nice life.

Oh god. Has nobody told you what eventually happens to the old people? This is awkward.

Perhaps people should think more about the environment and the lack of jobs and opportunities before they have more children.There are enough people in this country.My friend lives below a man who keeps reproducing and his small flat houses 5 children.He bullies her all the time because she is single but works damn hard but his cultural beliefs mean she is considered worthless.The kids make a huge amount of noise.Does she have no rights in this baby obsessed country? I understand two children but why more when so many are neglected and abused when they cease to be cute?