Nick Clegg has confirmed this morning that the coalition is looking at how to tweak its policy of removing child benefit from families in which someone pays the higher rate of income tax. As I wrote in the Mail on Sunday, there are three options being explored.
The first is designed to address the fact that, a family where one parent works and earns £45,000 while the other stays at home raising the children would lose their child benefit while the one next door where both parents are on £40,000 would keep theirs. This change would see families with one higher rate taxpayer lose only half of their child benefit. But, I understand, that this is not the preferred tweak at the moment.
Another possibility is keeping child benefit universal for all children under five. This would recognise that the first few years of a child’s life impose unique costs on families and are when parents need the most help.
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