Child Benefit- is is now means tested?

summerday

gauly wrote: »

Is it just me who thinks the well off family should have more money? There is usually a reason why one job pays more than another: longer hours, unpleasant working condition, unsociable hours, more training required. If you end up with the same net income, why is anyone going to take the higher paying job?

Totally agree. I think it's especially unfair on the borderline cases £44k up to £50k, people earning just over the threshold but nowhere near £100k plus. As you say, these people are likely to be in jobs where they are paying back student loans and missed out earning years while they were at uni studying. I can't help but think of people in my school year who never bothered to study hard, got a job at 16 and they can claim all the the child benefits/tax credits etc, whereas people earning a little bit extra due to years of hard work and training and still paying for it now get nothing. Especially as we've often tried to be financially sensible in waiting to have children until we're in a stable position, not needing to claim much.

The fact that the 40% tax benefit on childcare vouchers has been closed to new applicants is an extra sting in the tail to people having babies in the near future, when childcare is so horrendously expensive.

I do wonder whether the threshold is set a little low, especially for more expensive parts of the country, or whether they should take outgoings such as high mortgages or student loan repayments into account to make it fairer?