Conservatives child benefit announcement

[idratherbedrawing]

Just heard on the today prog that cons are planning to only take away child benefit if you earn over £120k as a household after the election. This would be a big benefit to my family as we have one higher earner and one v low. Maybe it's cos I'm def not gonna vote Tory but it's actually really annoyed me tho I agree with it - shows they could have done this all along and are now finally offering it when they are languishing in the polls. For many years campaigners have argued it should be based on household income and response has generally been "that's too hard". This coalition govt policy has had a big impact on my family's disposable income since my son was born in 2012, hit us especially hard when we only had one parent working. Really sticks in the throat that they think to change it now- for me the damage is already done.

I just heard on the radio this morning that- had radio 4 on in the background while I was emptying the dishwasher, didn't actively seek it out.

David Cameron was prime minister in 2013 when they brought in high income child benefit charge.

Everyone could see the policy was completely unfair and illogical at that time. Of course it should have been based on household income. A child would know that.

11 years later and only now are they considering changing it IF they get another term which is highly unlikely.

No one deserves credit for a very belated attempt to correct their own mistake.

Naran
If nothing will dissuade you from voting Labour, then why even waste your time reading policies from any party?

Go around with ear plugs and a blindfold, do you mean? We're in an election period. What a silly comment.

Another one who lost out as youngest is turning 17 tomorrow and we're nowhere near earning 120K, in my dreams. It's all about fairness - whatever the threshold, it should've been on household income. I hope that does at least change whoever gets in government.

The thing is they can promise what they like but it is going to be difficult to administer.

HMRC pay child benefit, HMRC assess individual income & tax liability, eligibility to Child benefit.

How are they going to change the system to look at household income for that one element?
Tick box on a tax return & then randomly audit a few for compliance purposes, a separate form to be issued & processed?!

It isn't an easy thing to change & it all costs money - people to process, update computer systems etc 🤷‍♀️

So saying we'll change it is easy, actually changing it - difficult!

Yes really pisses me off - I was a single mother and had to pay some of it back, whilst a 2 parent family was earing significantly more as a household and got to keep it all. Totally wrong.

@rockstarshoes since at the moment the higher eaning parent has to declare their partner recieves child benefit, not themselves, and all other benefits are based on household rather than individual income... why would it be that much more difficult than the current system?

I think child benefit should be universal, it was before and is in many other countries. Wont make me vote Tory though.

There should have been one amount per family all along. It was ridiculous having some families earn more yet still get it but others earn less and not get it. That said I doubt Conservatives will win so you won't get it. Labour don't agree to it and are more likely to stop families who earn a decent wage getting any extra money.

They should never have means tested it in the first place.

As a single parent I think this is a good policy. It’s really unfair that a two parent family can get more benefits than a single parent family especially when single parents usually have more costs (such as childcare, etc).

I think its actually more than 70% marginal rate, because for families with one parent earning over £100K you also lose the childcare funded hours too (worth several thousand), plus tax-free childcare along with the personal allowance tapering down. This usually lasts for quite some time, and now we could (potentially.... I'm extremely sceptical this would ever go anywhere) also add in marginal tax rate to account for loss of child benefit at £120K too.

However, a household threshold for child benefit is fairer..... if only the same logic applied to the funded hours too!

Wouldn't it be far easier just to make it universal again? The change to basing it on the highest individual income was always a completely stupid idea.

And yes, it's an election bribe with nothing for people on lower incomes. Tories gonna Tory.

They won't do it. They say these things...
They are just trying to get women to vote for them.
Alotcof women sadly still do not vote so you always see parties promising all sorts to appeal to mothers and/or women in general leading up to an election. They rarely deliver.
And whilst they've been in power they've been making moves to attack statutory maternity pay... without which idve been up shit creek twice.
So fuck them and their nonsense.

I thought they increased the threshold already? To 60k or something like that?

I've asked for mine to be reinstated twice and not had it. I've never learnt over 50k but had inheritance which I was told meant I couldn't claim it (falsely). HMRC took it away willingly knowing this and never gave it back!

The desperation.

The current Minister for Children, Families & Wellbeing doesn't know how much the child allowance is His excuse justification for not knowing this, when asked by Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning was "it's a DWP policy"

Labour manifesto will be published on 13/06, let's see what's there. I suspect there will be a lot of carnage for mid-high earners, incl new taxes on pensions, limits on ISAs etc (if they are honest of course).
CB might be quite a contrast for middle classes here

Child benefit should have remained universal.

Agree it's annoying that they now seek to address the unfairness of the system they created when they are on their way out. Arseholes.

Because all other benefits are reported to & assessed by DWP - different Govt Dept!

I don't think they should have ever stopped universal entitlement to child benefit - historically it was paid weekly to the mother of children to protect them from feckless fathers! So that even if he was drinking or gambling the family money the mother always had that money for the children!

I think they should have kept that policy. I don't think it should be means tested at all - administering any sort of means testing is expensive!

We are a couple on £121k but I am not going to vote tory based on this.

I would be surprised if anyone does. For the vast majority of people at this income level it is the tories failed policies on housing and childcare, as well as stagnation of salaries since 2010 (including for professional graduate roles) that make it harder to have kids comfortably, not £100 a month.

Failure of levelling up and concentration of decent paying jobs in the SE has exacerbated this.

£7k post tax minus 2k childcare would mean you can spend max 2k on housing (assuming you are also frugal). At current interest rates that is 390k mortgage which only buys you a flat in large swathes of London and the SE excluding commuting costs, if you have commuting costs you probably should only borrow 300k which may mean you need 100k deposit for a 2 bed terraced (and that is if it is tiny, more likely if it'd a flat)..

Only way it is viable is if you bought a few years pre kids and paid it down steadily while you are DINKY (that's what DH and I are doing). But we were lucky cos we manage to buy in our 20s (rent free living in our 20s), most people buy in their 30s and need to have kids quite quickly. The other hack is if you have family to help and then pay less childcare. I know very few people at our income level who don't have family help to defray childcare costs or were not massively lucky withh property I.e. help or older spouse or bought long ago.

They won't do it. They say these things...
They are just trying to get women to vote for them.

Absolutely! They were the ones that introduced the cap and they could have changed it at any time, but didn’t.

Now, 4 weeks before an election where it looks like they are going to be annihilated at the ballot box, now there are rumbles that they will suddenly make changes to make it a bit more fair. What could they be playing at, I wonder 😂?!

It always bemuses me when someone who's in power already promises shit. They could have done all that already.