To be seriously worried the new govt are looking at cutting child benefit...

[cherrymama]

to 'middle class' families?What does that mean?We both work but have four kids and losing that income will seriously affect us...so please tell me IABU and that it won't happen!

4madboys--I know. It's an awful way to get money.

Though I'd imagine that for many people the equity in the house will probably end up going to pay for care at the end of a parent's life. I'd certainly rather know that my parents were being well-cared for than have the money myself.

i think that child benefit is currently considered non taxable income so a relatively simple way of cutting it would be to change that status. it would then, effectively, be cut by 20% for basic rate tax payers and 40% or 50% for higher rate payers and not at all for those with incomes below the tax threshold. this gives you the same sort of impact as means testing but without requiring admin that isn't already there, assuming that i've remembered correctly about it's tax status.

not sure if anyone else has seen this but it doesn't sound like they are thinking about cutting child benefit - they are thinking of cutting the child trust fund you get when baby is born. There is no mention of child benefit at all.
The article also says there are no firm details on how tax credits are going to be affected so will have to wait and see.
www.thisismoney.co.uk/savings-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=504413&in_page_id= 7

LOL - I looking because I was wishing I DID live in that area of Lambeth (friends do) as it is teeming with TV producers, people in publishing, media, teachers, etc and on the doorstep of a great state secondary!

Sorry, I think it is mad to expect average jobs and benefits etc to cover a house in such expensive upmarket areas as where a 3 bed house costs nearly £800k.

Anyone who can earn enough to support a mortgage of £700,000 is in the top 1% of earners.

Or has inherited it.

Or has benefitted from the insane house price rises oer the last 16 years.

Re all the comments about uni debts etc.

I have been (and still am) trying to recruit for a position that pays £24k - £26k with van, private mileage paid, phone and laptop.
It is a skilled role, the right candidate needs to have technical qualifications, not necessarily tonnes of experience but they will need to have completed an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer or similar. So would suit someone aged 21 upwards.
A candidate with the right attitude would receive a pay review and a rise to up to 32k after 6 months.

I cannot find anyone with qualifications under 40.

We have a massive skills gap in this country which is having a knock on effect on our ability to produce goods to export etc.

Why do we see uni as the holy grail for a well paid job.
I did an apprenticeship, later on I did my degree on the OU whilst working.
It was and still is my practical experience that has led me into the very well paid role I have now.
You don't need to rack up debts to build a career or have a chance at building one.

As a country we need to take responsibility for ourselves. In "the old days" the mantra was, "get yourself a trade, you'll always find work".
Now it's, "go to uni, you need a degree for a decent job".

We should be looking at different ways to work, different patterns, filling skills gaps etc. Not wittering on about student debts and not being able to afford children.

Having children is a choice, and actually it is perfectly normal to struggle financially whilst they are small.
It is not the governments responsibility to take that burden away.

Sorry, we all need to face up to the fact that we simply have to pay more income tax, the we primarily being higher earners. We want and should have the NHS, schools, child benefit for those who need it etc.. but we dont want to pay for it. This is why we have a massive debt crisis and I am still waiting for a politician brave enough to say that.

itsmeolord - I agree - and that is a HUGE salary and opportunity for someone in their early 20s!

mint - i totally agree. I am due very soon and have to say I wouldn't mind not getting the £250 at all if it meant that child benefit was unaffected.
I would genuinely be very shocked if they went after child benefit, it would be so massively unpopular.

Labour have already hit the high earners with an effective 60% tax rate for income over £100,000 (loss of personal allowance), the 50% tax rate and the restriction in pension tax relief.

I have no doubt this government will hit the high earners further I don't know why so many people here think thats not the case, the problem is that a lot of them, especially the superrich can leave the country if the tax burden is too high. They have already said they will increase CGT so my guess is to marginal income tax rate so the wealthiest will have to pay it at 50%.

Although I agree in principle with the mansion tax I think it should just be levied as council tax (ie high bracket for biggest houses) because that would be easier to administer.

It is indeed dumpyoldwoman.

It looks like we will be employing a candidate who is 47, has no dependant children and no mortgage.

It would have been far more satisfying to employ someone just out of college who we could have seen grow his/her career and support a family if needs be.

MumNW: yes, but people earning less than that have to pay more too. Anyone earning 50+ really just has to contribute more, especially NI. And, lots of benefits will have to be means tested. I want Child Benefit for those who need it: we don't really and shouldn't have it. If not, the gap between rich and poor will only get wider. We just can't have it all.

Partly I agree - BUT we should stop wasting so much money. Billions of £s are going on some very odd / un worthwhile projects that don't get well managed - ID cards, NHS super computer, defence procurement projects, all the various quangos that go on. The amount of waste in government both national and local is criminal. In many cases need more co-ordination between areas and less of budget X covers this and Y covers that - exmaple in some counties we pay out more in componesation for pot holes than paid to fix them!!

Hopefully the Cons will try to reign this in and although not a LD supporter generally having them in govt is a good thing to help balance out some of the more right wing extremists.

As for CB - uyes we get it but most gets saved up to pay for their eduction in the future - we are likley to have to pay out over £50k to our 4 DS' for uni. We don't get any other help in other ways.

I think a fair tax system is what we need but we should have further sliding scale of taxes at both ends. Also stop some of the stupid cases at lower end where people cannot afford to 'do the right thing' and get a job when they are worse off due to the way the benefits / tax ssyem works. Give them more support and allow them to earn more so at least not worse off and the amount the state pays out overall is less.

Having read through all 10 pages I have to say that we Re in the over £50k bracket but with morgage/council tax/gas/electric/commute fairs to London (£3k each per year) childcare we just get by! And we don't have forgein holidays in fact last year we did two of the sun £9.50 holidays in shifty caravans with friends it was grim/cold but company makes a difference.
I work for a quango and am currently on mat leave my dept is potentially being outsourced so I have the whole don't know if I'll have a job to go back to hanging over me.
Fwiw we had to live with il's for 10 months to save our deposit it was he'll we didn't go anywhere or do anything g just worked but we are forever grateful as we would have been stuck in the rental trap forever.
I think the baby child trust fund is an easy thing to get rid of cb would cost more to admin than to guve to everyone it should be down to the individual I'm pretty sure victoria beckham doesn't claim it!!!

thanks for that callmedave - i love a good diagram - and so pretty! And am staggered at those figures, you learn something every day!

now off to investigate what the "learning and skills council" do, they receive £4.441bn from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and £5.1bn from the Department for
Children, Schools and Families. They must be doing something pretty darn impressive!

We don't need CB but when I rang to ask if we could opt out I was told that we couldn't because the CB records are basically a "register" of all children and if we weren't on the list then the children would "disappear" from official records so this is not an option

Can't understand for the life of me why this benefit is not means tested or at the very least why the Govt doesn't set up a charity diversion option so it goes to your nominated charity account instead of your own account which could be easier....

I'm with cupcakesandbunting. I work f/t. 2nd child due in 10 weeks, will only take 6 months leave as we can't afford bills and mortgage on one salary for any longer than that. We're not entitled to WTC and I appreciate it goes the the families who need it the most, but CB covers the usual, clothes, birthdays, school shoes etc etc. My "disposable income" doesn't go on designer clothes, just the little things like petrol for the commute to work, weekly food shop and the like....it will be a huge blow if it gets cut.

Sorry but another one here that thinks they should put a limit on Tax Credits and Child Benefit.

We get it and don't need it ...although a few years ago did. I think if a lot of people were honest they could survive without it also. I save the CB for my kids. There's also all sorts of 'extras' you get from getting tax credits like heating grants which come to thousands and free glasses etc. All very nice thank you.....but i'm fully aware that the money could be better spent elsewhere.

People tend to spend up to their limit these days and now don't like the thought of it being taken away.

The health in pregnancy is another daft idea - i used mine to get a new pram -thanks very much!

Benefits should be for people in need, and in all honesty if you can't afford childcare then perhaps that should be a consideration before you have children (apart from the odd accident!) not afterwards. We have shaped our family around what we can afford and our lifestyle.

And i would have thought, if you earn £50k in most parts of the country, a bit of clever shopping and budgeting would easily save you £40 a month if you lost this benefit.

Well that's that then - CB and the CTF were/are the only thing my boys see for my 40% tax. I realise that this will be a highly unpopular view but I personally am sick to death of going out to work to keep other people going. Either everyone gets CB or no-one does. I use mine to save for my children's future and without it I wouldn't have the disposable income to manage it.

When I was 18 I had four jobs and worked six days and four nights a week to save up and put myself through uni, and on the one day off I had off I went to college to add to my qualifications and make myself a more attractive university candidate. I don't recall anybody there holding my hand as I staggered home at 4am from working in a nightclub and then had to get myself to work in a shop 5 hours later, and this went on for two years when I should have been out with my friends and enjoying myself like other teenagers. Same as I don't recall anyone holding my hand when I was an NQT and taught full time and then worked behind a bar in the evening to pay my mortgage/student loans on my own. No-one propped me up repaying said loans for what felt like an eternity (I finally finished paying for my education a fortnight before I was 37) and no-one wiped away my tears as I left DS1 in a nursery at 20 weeks (and I'll be doing the same in September with DS2) to go back to work full time because a, I can also see the bigger picture regarding my career and b, I am now a HOD with a traditional Head so to go part time I'll have to give up my TLR pay of about eight and a half grand before we look at losing one or two days worth of salary.

Now, nobody has ever forced me to do any of the above but I did make some tough choices in life and I made them so my family (or future family as it was way back when) can have a nice life, and if others want to be in that position then I suggest that they think similarly. I would love to be more Mother Teresa about it but I just can't and I really don't care if I appear selfish. I give to 5 charities monthly and will help anybody out of a hole, but this long term financing of others while my children see nothing for my hard work is beginning to get me down.

look, all you people who were brazenly flaunting your right to vote tory 2 weeks ago . look what you've done. i hope you're kicking yourselves.

'Well that's that then - CB and the CTF were/are the only thing my boys see for my 40% tax. '

So, a peaceful country with really good infrastructure that allows you go to out and earn a living relatively unmolested comes for free then?

It's not a pay in, get out system, that's a shop, not a society with a stable government.