Having accused those parents aggrieved at losing their child benefit of “fiscal nimbyism“, the government looks set to go even further in its assault on welfare. Treasury minister David Gauke (the man responsible for that “nimbyism” jibe) yesterday revealed on Radio 4’s Moneybox that the coalition was considering limiting child benefit to a maximum of two children for all families. Iain Duncan Smith has previously suggested that the government could restrict benefits for out-of-work families, but Gauke hinted that the measure could also apply to those in-work. He said: “We are looking at it in terms of the welfare bill across the board as to how that might work.” A Treasury source went on to tell the Daily Mail:
All options are being looked at in this area. It’s not something we can do retrospectively. The main focus is on the incentives that apply to workless households as opposed to working households. You could just do that with child tax credits. But we are looking in detail at child benefit as well. We are looking at various options.
The government emphasised that no details had been settled and that the measure “would only apply to new children”, but it would still be wise to tread carefully. Limiting child benefit to two children, regardless of parental employment status, would be seen as a betrayal of its promise to “make work pay”. It would also be yet another example of the government penalising families. Since coming to power, the coalition has abolished baby bonds, removed the ring-fence on Sure Start (leading to hundreds of centres closing), frozen child benefit for three years, scrapped the Health in Pregnancy Grant and withdrawn child tax credits from higher earners. Pensioners, by contrast, have retained universal benefits, including free bus passes, free television licences and the Winter Fuel Allowance. While cutting welfare for families isn’t a good argument for cutting welfare for the elderly (we need not choose between competing sets of welfare cuts, in other words), it will be even harder for the government to maintain this double standard if it widens its assault on child benefit.
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