Well the fact is, em, that if Child Benefit was scrapped entirely the workers would lose out because benefits for the unemployed families would be increased to compensate.
I would rather pay for someone who does not currently work than for someone who is working. Saying that why should anyone get money for having kids but that is my preference
Looking at the very first response,
///scrounging gits///
Regardless of your earnings, if the rules say you are entitled to bebefits, and you then claim them, how can you be a scrounging git?
It's the rules that are wrong, who in their right mind is going to refuse money the rules say they're entitled to?
And no, I don't, and never have claimed any benefits!
Family allowance as it was once called was introduced to alleviate poverty for big families .The social reformer Eleanor Rathbone campaigned long and loud about it .It's since become a cash cow for some though .
I was always very grateful for it .And ..no ..I wasn't a scrounger .Children cost a fortune to bring up and every little helps :)
How can it be a cash cow? It's £20 for the first child and £13 for additional children. Who in their right mind would have more children for an extra £13 a week? £13 wouldn't keep them in nappies.
on the news just now, a couple where the father has a job earns roughly 60k, and his wife is stay at home mum. So they will lose all their child benefit, she said it's worth approx 130 quid a month, and will hit them hard? I don't know the answer, but it seems a bit of a mess brought in so quickly...
Surely if people want children they they budget for them? No good saying - OMG I have a kid and now I can't afford it? - why on earth should the gov. pay you a benefit because you decide to have a child? These days for most people its a decision rather than a surprise (not always I realise that).
JaneDoe, a wage earner can have a serious illness or accident.
An employee might change his (her) job and be made redundant a few months later - no redundancy pay.
And frankly, if most people waited until they thought they could afford children they would never have them. How on earth can you budget for the next 18/20 years and more?
When I bought my house the mortgage rate was 5.5%. After a few years it shot up to 15%. Can you imagine the impact of that? Who can foresee that?
Luckily I managed, many didn't. There is no crystal ball.
I understand your opinion hc but that scenario could quite easily happen to a couple with no children -lost jobs mortgage payments - thought this thread was about child benefit not benefits in general