Child Benefit Freezes Leave Families £475 Worse Off
In the News
Families are hundreds of pounds worse off each year because of freezes to child benefit payments and allowances, according to analysis by Money.
Child benefit is worth £20.70 a week for the eldest child and £13.70 for each additional sibling. In 2011, those sums were £20.30 and £13.40 respectively.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/child-benefit-freezes-leave-families-475-worse-off-cfdn562gg
I personally do not think anyone should get child benefit. Even back in the day when I had mine (70s) I was amazed that the government was giving me money for my choice to have children.
It may encourage families to think about the population if it were stopped and the money saved could go into the pot for benefits for everyone, including those with children who cannot manage.
That's fascinating how people think all people on benefits are easy going and cheater. You must visit poor areas to get to know them before accusing them
WindowShopper nowhere in my comment did I accuse anyone of anything. Please read again. I said that if no one got child benefit the money saved could give extra help to those who need it. I do not feel it is right that rich people like the Beckhams, Ramseys etc should get it nor do I think rich pensioners should get heating allowance etc. The money saved could help those in need rather than paying out to those who don't need it.
We only have the one child as we made the decision to only have one child because we could afford to have one child. I didn't even realise we were entitled to child benefit until someone mentioned it to me! With me not working his child benefit comes in handy. I use it to pay for his playgroups, his snacks, clothes etc. Every penny of it is spent on my son. If I was told they were reducing it by £10 a month to put money elsewhere, such as education or healthcare then i would be fine with that as my son would still benefit from it.
Both my sons have one child each but one of them has my granddaughter from a previous relationship when he was very young. This granddaughter and her partner do not want to bring a child into this horrible world even though they are both hard workers and able to afford it. Forgive me if I am wrong MrsCraig but I don't get the feeling you are mega rich and therefore you deserve your allowance for the things you mention. But I do feel highly paid footballers, bankers, celebs etc can manage without and if they voluntarily gave it up it would be a charitable act to help others and acknowledge the lifestyle they are lucky to have.
Lynibis we are certainly not rich! We worked hard to save for our wedding and our house. When we both worked we were able to save a decent amount each month and paid off extra on our mortgage. But now it is just my husband working. We can afford for it is to be just him working and me looking after our son. We cover our bills every month but don't have much left to save at the end. We choose for me to stay at home with our son as we can afford it but the child benefit does mean I can take him to an extra playgroup each week etc so I am very grateful for it. I do agree that people who are mega rich such as celebs, footballers etc don't need the money as they can afford to give their children lots of opportunities and if they gave it up it could go towards so many other things.
It's always a difficult issue things like this. Most working people I know haven't had a pay rise in years or in my case, earn thousands less now than I did 5+ years ago for the same job. Nobody in our country should have to struggle or go without
I have worked for same company for 9 years without a rise but I do not complain because it well supplements my pension and I feel lucky to have sufficient for all my needs. I know that is not the case for many folk.
RnD194hd when our son was sick, my husband was put onto half pay and my maternity had stopped. Luckily we had savings and my husbands granny, God bless her, helped us out. Luckily he was only on half pay for 2 months before he was able to go back to work, but we had to alter our lifestyle in a number of ways during that 9 month period. We still had bills to pay, didn't want to use our savings if we didn't have to and hate the idea of being in debt. You do what you have to to survive!
It feels like child benefit should be means tested and to encourage smaller families should only be available for the first child. Ulltimately there are too many people on the planet and the UK is extremely over-populated with the population twice what they believe is sustainable and sustainable I think they mean self-sufficient i.e. growing enough food for the whole population.
Unfortunately the UK has huge debts and we continue to add to them, if leaving the EU doesn't have a positive financial impact perhaps in 5 years then we will face much greater levels of poverty. It doesn't take a genius to see many British brands are no more and manufacturing is at a much lower level and ultimately we have to adapt to being a poorer country. That's just the reality sadly. I'm sure many benefits will reduce and even disappear over time unfortunately. The wealth of countries rise and fall over time and sadly we are probably into a long period of falling, we have left the EU with probably close to 2 trillion of debt and that money has to be extracted from the UK economy over time to pay our debts plus a whole load of interest on top.
Rich people don't get child benefit. Anyone that earns over £60k has to pay it all back at the end of the tax year if they have claimed it. Not sure why so many people assume it's not means tested.
Possibly because they haven't had to fill in the paperwork? Or, like me, they filled it in so long ago that they forgot there was an income limit!
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