Will be you be affected by cuts to child benefit?

[emc]

Hello

Next week parliament will debate cutting child benefit for higher rate tax payers - for the TV show I work on I'm looking to talk to people who this may affect.

Ideally I'd like to talk to:

a single mum who is earning just above the ?42,475 (hmm, not sure there are many single mums who earn this but if you are out there, get in touch!) so will lose her child benefit

a couple who both earn just below the ?42,475 limit so will retain their child benefit despite having a combined income of just over ?84,000.

Many thanks!

[simonethebeaver]

I know someone who isn't a single mother but whose partner is a stay at home dad. She has told me that losing her child benefit might mean having to sell her house. Might she be the sort of person you're looking for?

[emc]

Yes please, would love to speak to her!

[amydown]

This is going to be rather controversial but even for high rate tax payers, the cut does make a difference. No tax credit, no child care subsidy, reduction in child care voucher limit, and now this. Sometimes it's hard not to feel penalised for working hard!

[pincushionqueen]

When I return to work from maternity leave and finally get the position I have been working towards for several years, I will lose my child benefit. Hardly an incentive to work harder. I'm a single mum too (gets violin out)...

[bibimax]

a single mum who is earning just above the ?42,475 (hmm, not sure there are many single mums who earn this but if you are out there, get in touch!) so will lose her child benefit

I actually take great offence at this statement - there are plenty of highly skilled/qualified professional single mums (dads) earning over this benchmark - perhaps you need to research your comments!

[zeban]

I think it's absolutely right that a higher wage earner loses child benefit. they should never have got it in the first place, what a farce the last labour government were. child benefit was originally introduced as a subsidy for those living in poverty.

And please do not use and perpetrate the myth that somehow because you earn more you work harder than those on low wages. that's absolute rubbish and I take huge offense to that as do millions of others on low wages. Of course it's obscene that a couple both earning under that amount don't lose it- it should of course be a combined wage and that part is ridiculous but I think in general it's probably the only good and sensible thing this government has actually done.

[Carbonara]

If the bill goes ahead, when will it take effect? From April 2012, or 2013?

I think the cut is fair enough in principle, but the way it is being done, with some families earning almost twice as much and keeping the child benefit, is outrageous. Very discriminatory against single parent families, too, who have no choice but to pay high childcare fees in order to earn.

[emc]

bibimax Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> a single mum who is earning just above the ?42,475

> (hmm, not sure there are many single mums who earn

> this but if you are out there, get in touch!) so

> will lose her child benefit

>

> I actually take great offence at this statement -

> there are plenty of highly skilled/qualified

> professional single mums (dads) earning over this

benchmark - perhaps you need to research your

> comments!

BibiMax - I certainly did not mean that offensively - I am a single mum myself and in a professional job but not as high up the career ladder as I might have been if I'd been in a couple. I guess I was probably thinking from a personal point of view that when you are a single parent you tend to (or at least I have) take on a slightly lesser role at work as you are always the one that does drop off/pick ups so need to dash at 5, you want to spend as much time with your child as possible as they don't have two of you so that I stepped back from the more managerial positions with a higher salary that I perhaps could have had if I'd been in a couple.

That is all I meant - so not 'researched' comments, more personal. And I am a long way from losing my child benefit as I survive on substantially less than the ?42k benchmark unfortunately.

> Any single mums and dads out there are doing a bloody hard job!

[Curly]

It's not the Child benefit change that I'm worried about - it's the change to Working Tax Credits. I have just received a letter saying the threshold has been cut and so I'm no longer entitled. I was getting ?40 per month and this will make a significant dent in my income. The government seem to have made this change more quietly than the change to Child Benefit and has come as a complete surprise and is effective from next month.

[Bellenden Belle]

zeban Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I think it's absolutely right that a higher wage

> earner loses child benefit. they should never have

> got it in the first place, what a farce the last

> labour government were. child benefit was

> originally introduced as a subsidy for those

> living in poverty.

Child benefit has always been a universal tax and has never previously differentiated between social class or been means tested. It was actually introduced not as "a subsidy for those living in poverty" but instead was introduced after the second world war to encourage larger families to restore the birth rate.

I'm curious as to your comment about "what a farce the last labour government were" - in what respect? As far as supporting families - particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds - I would say the last Labour government achieved a great dea and that many of those achievements are now being undone.

[zeban]

Oh Bellenden Belle, I must have the wrong info, I do apologise. I didn't think it has always been a universal benefit, I thought the last govt brought that in to appease middle class voters.

I agree about the last Labour government achieving a great deal in supporting disadvantaged families and of course that many of those are being undone. I don't think this is one of those though. what is is the changes to working tax credit thresholds that Curly mentions. It's absolutely awful and will make poor hard working families even poorer.

[bibimax]

Thanks for the explanation emc - its just another example of how single parent families are left below the poverty line (whatever that is)....and since these lone parent families will only increase in the future we have to look at organisations to lobby on our behalf (gingerbread etc)..They are fighting hard for the govt NOT to charge the parent applying for help (via the CSA)...this is a big issue.

YES the labour govt brought in tax credits and thats the only way I could afford to go back to work - by getting some of the child care costs covered - this has now dropped significantly which will force many parents not to even have the option to go back to work - what a disaster! I thanked dear Gordon Brown every day as I struggled into work - but I would rather be a happy, tired working mum than one stuck in the benefit system and unable to come out...with no extra cash for my kids to do any activities...do you know how expensive these are?

I simply cannot stand what DC is doing to the system (incl the NHS)...he's ok with his millions in the bank!

I also think its very easy for people to make comments without knowing what life is really like for many families because as usual the media only pick up on the extreme cases....most families are broke!!!!