Nursery World - Child benefit anomaly is unfair, say family campaigners

As the repercussions of Monday's announcement by the chancellor, George Osborne, that child benefit would be scrapped for higher-rate taxpayers continue to be debated, early years and family organisations said the decision was not fair for families.

The move would mean that a household where one parent earned more than about £44,000 a year would lose their entitlement to child benefit, while a couple earning more than £80,000 a year between them would still be entitled to claim it.

Critics have pointed out that it would particularly affect families where mothers work part-time to look after young children, and single-parent families with one breadwinner.

Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to apologise yesterday for not outlining the plan in the Conservative election manifesto.

‘I acknowledge this was not in our manifesto. Of course I’m sorry about that,’ he told ITV News.

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