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CB to be ‘wrapped in’ to UC system?
‘The Chancellor has refused to rule out cutting child benefits payments for millions of households by wrapping them into the Universal Credit system.
Such a move could strip about 4.3 million middle and upper-middle income families of more than £1,000 a year, according to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies’
The report is based on the Chancellor’s refusal to deny something, but it’s interesting that this little kite has been sent aloft….
And is it a Tory kite (here’s an idea, lets guage the reaction) or Labour (the nasty party will take money out of the pocket of hard working families)? Another potential nail in the coffin of universal benefits (replaced by non-universal not really credit)?
I can see the policy attraction with the right spin (pun intended) - why should taxpayers pay benefits to middle income groups (who are in effect giving a ‘handout’ to themselves)? [Insert your own response here .............................].
It would be similar to moving the old child tax allowance into CTC as the family element and then means testing it - bringing K’s of claimants into the means tested benefits system for the first time (and then taking them out again under Coalition cuts - thanks George!).
Then think of the administration of the number of UC claims made just to claim an equivelent of CHB - would it be subject to a higher threshould like the family element was? Many would not bother claiming? But then practicallity of delivery isn’t a strong point of Tory welfare reform (just look at the taxation of CHB)!