The amount of financial help that UK governments have offered to parents has increased by almost 150 per cent since 1975, with more than half the rise reflected in tax and benefit changes since 1999, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Its report The Benefits of Parenting: Government financial support for families with children since 1975, published last week, said that, measured in 2002 prices, the average amount paid by the Government to parents for each child will have risen from Pounds 12.62 a week in 1975 to 31.28 by the time the new child tax credit is introduced next April. This will take Government spending on financial support for children to an historic high of 21bn, and represents an increase from 3.4 to 4.7 per cent of total Government spending, and from 1.5 to 1.9 per cent of national income.
The amount of financial help that UK governments have offered to parents has increased by almost 150 per cent since 1975, with more than half the rise reflected in tax and benefit changes since 1999, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Its report The Benefits of Parenting: Government financial support for families with children since 1975, published last week, said that, measured in 2002 prices, the average amount paid by the Government to parents for each child will have risen from 12.62 a week in 1975 to 31.28 by the time the new child tax credit is introduced next April. This will take Government spending on financial support for children to an historic high of 21bn, and represents an increase from 3.4 to 4.7 per cent of total Government spending, and from 1.5 to 1.9 per cent of national income.
