Child benefits to be capped at two?
October 25th 2012
Child-related benefits for families may be capped at two children, the work and pensions secretary has said.
Iain Duncan Smith said stopping the current system, where families get more benefits the more children they have, was among changes being considered.
Families on benefits were often “freed from” the decision of whether they could afford more children, Mr Duncan Smith said, and must “cut their cloth”.
But child poverty campaigners expressed concerns at the proposals.
In a speech in Cambridge, Mr Duncan Smith will ask whether families should be able to expect never-ending amounts of money for every child, when working households have to make tough choices about what they can afford.
Ahead of the speech, he told the BBC that the state would continue to support unemployed people who wanted to have children but had to question whether such support should be “endless”.
[...]
Mr Duncan Smith’s overarching message is that cultural change is required – both in the minds of those on benefits and in government – so that the welfare system is a springboard into work, rather than something which traps people into a life of dependency.
[...]
Campaigners said they were “very worried” about the government’s intentions, pointing out that the majority of children in poverty are those whose parents are already working in low-paid jobs.
Read the entire article: BBC
More on this issue: Smaller families
Read a PM report on UK family sizes
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