AIBU that the benefit cap is actually a cut on child benefit?

[ChickenLickn]

This family would be affected by the cap. The family is made up of two parents who have combined their families and taken responsibility for their children - so there are 6 children in the family.

As the graph shows, most of their income is child benefit.
They spend the majority of the money on food for the family of 8. The next largest outgoing is for school uniform, shoes, other school expenses and clothing. So they are taking good care of the children.

They all live in an overcrowded 3 bed house, on a council estate in north wales.

The amount they will lose from the cap is more than the cost of their rent.

AIBU that this cap is actually a cut in child benefit, and will penalise people who are trying to bring up their children properly?

Child tax credits are a benefit paid for each child. How much you get depends on how much you earn. Parents out of work get the most. High earning parents get nothing. There are lots of websites explaining the full details.

Strawbezza - and the irony is that if you post on MN saying you're earning 40k, you'll be told you're a lucky bitch and have no right to ever feel hard up (even though you might be paying £1000 a month or more on childcare). Yet if you get given the equivalent of a 40k salary for doing fuck all, you get sympathy from some sections of MN and outrage on your behalf that the govt could even dream of cutting back !!

Well said callmemrs

Going to work has lots of associated unavoidable costs - childcare usually being the biggest, but travel, clothes, etc. as well. I wonder what you'd have to earn to end up with the disposable income that this family has? Plenty more than £40K.

Hallo
We're moving this to politics
Thanks
MNHQ

Ooooh Politics.

Don't think there's much politics involved tbh, all the main parties agree that there should be a benefits cap.

Tories are in their element, it's like shooting fish in a barrel for them, they can blame Labour for the mess.

Labour are struggling to defend the fact that they allowed the numbers trapped by benefits (like this family, for whom it is simply not worth getting a job) to grow so fast.

Thank god I found this post - I started a similar one up about this couple a few days ago and to hear the bleatings of some of the wooly-minded fruit-loops on the left, one could be forgiven for thinking this family wasn't getting enough in benefits!

MrPants you & I are in the majority, maybe not on Mumsnet but in the country as a whole. Even the Labour party have recognised which way the wind is blowing. I think Ed Miliband said the proposed benefits cap should be lower than £26K outside London.

Yes op you are probably the most unreasonable poster I have seen on here in a long time.

Agree with the majority on thread, it really is robbing Peter to pay Paul

Wow, they have a higher disposable income than most working people. I certainly can't afford Sky, a 200per week cigarette habit or 24 cans of lager. Perhaps they will just need to tighten their belts a bit and consider whether the above mentioned is more important than paying for "eating and heating". After all, we are apparently "all in it together".

1. Neither of them have worked for over 10 years yet they have a 5 year old child - who did they think was going to support that child?
2. As others have said - if their is no work in your field, get work outside your field/
3. Five of those children also have another parent where is their contribution to raising their own kids?
4. Learn to budget.