A change is coming to child benefit. This Saturday, more families will become eligible as the earnings threshold at which you start losing child benefit increases. The government has finally recognised that ‘the way we treat child benefit in the tax system is confusing and unfair’ and proposed two changes to try to simplify it. It’s ironic that this confusion and unfairness was introduced by the government in the first place.
The First Minister said during his leadership campaign that he wanted to see the Scottish child payment rise to £30 per week in his first budget. It is bitterly disappointing for struggling families that he has failed to deliver.
Campaigners at the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland are calling for tax and spending decisions to do more to prioritise hard up families ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish budget.
