Call for massive increase in child benefit to fight poverty
Benefit would be limited to under-fives in radical plan
A MASSIVE increase in child benefit for parents of young children would help to cut poverty and give every youngster the best possible start in life, researchers say.
The winner of the General Election should launch “a real assault on child poverty”, according to the Centre for Social Justice.
In a report this week it calls for changes to child benefit so it is paid only to the parents of children under five, on the grounds that these families are the most likely to be in economic straits.
At the moment, eligible households receive £24 a week for their first child and £15.90 a week for subsequent children until they turn 16.
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The report says: “This is despite evidence that families with younger children are more likely to be affected by poverty; and that additional resource in the early years has the greatest impact on children’s life chances.”
The independent think-tank, founded by former Conservative leader and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, says parents with two pre-school children would receive £7,400 a year under the radical plans, with some struggling families getting more than £20,000 per year.
It’s one of a range of proposals to help children in the poorest families. Others include making the income tax threshold of £12,570 fully transferable between spouses or civil partners, cutting tax bills for many families where one parent works and the other is a full-time parent, as well as providing more support for childcare.
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The CSJ report declares: “Too many children in this country are growing up in poverty. Too many parents feel that they have no choice in how to raise their children. And too many families find themselves at a disadvantage within the tax system because of their decision to have one parent stay home to care for their children.”
Chief executive Andy Cook said: “For a wealthy industrialised nation, the UK has a dismal record on child poverty. We spend a lot of money but we spend it badly.”