Child benefit cuts – how will they affect you?

What do you stand to lose?
Child benefit is worth £20.30 every week for a first-born child, then an additional £13.40 for additional children. Payments are untaxed and issued until your child is 16 years old.

Who will this change affect?
The Treasury claims about 15% of families will lose out, which is about 1.2m families. This means about 6.6 million will not be affected.

Who will be hit hardest?
Single earner families and single parents. If both parents earn less than £44,000 each they will not be affected, so you could be earning a joint income of say, £80,000 and still claim benefit. However, single parents/earners grossing more than the £44,000 threshold will have their benefit removed. The government has argued this is the simplest way of targeting the benefit at the families that need it the most.

How much will this save the country?
Treasury chief George Osborne has said scrapping the benefit would raise £1 billion and is necessary as part of the Government's plan to clear the budget deficit by 2015.

For more information
Contact the Child Benefit Office inquiry line 0845 302 14444.

What do we think?
While we accept that cuts have to be made, Prima Baby and Babyexpert.com believe the proposals for Child Benefit are ill-thought out, and we are calling on the Government for a re-think.

What do you think?
Please continue to post your views and add your voice to ours. We'll be taking your comments directly to No 10.