Cameron considers re-think over child benefit cut

13 January 2012 8:24 am | By Tom Selby

Prime Minister David Cameron is considering a re-think of proposals to scrap child benefit for higher earners due to concerns over “unfairness”.

Under the current Coalition plans, child benefit will be cut from any household which has someone earning above the higher-rate tax threshold of £42,745.

The plan has been criticised because a family with two people earning just below the high-rate threshold will keep the benefit, while poorer families where one parent is caring for children will lose out.

In an interview with the House magazine, an in-house publication for MPs, Cameron (pictured) says: “Some people say that’s the unfairness of it, that you lose the child benefit if you have a higher-rate taxpayer in the family,” he said. “Two people below the level keep the benefit. So, there’s a threshold, a cliff-edge issue.

“We always said we would look at the way it’s implemented and that remains the case, but I don’t want to impinge on the Chancellor’s Budget.”

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