Child Benefit and Guardian's Allowance: Resources
Parliamentary questions
Below you will find selected parliamentary questions relating to child benefit up to 2011.
Parliamentary Questions and answers can be found here and records of Parliamentary debates can be found here.
Q. William Bain (Glasgow North East, Labour)
- Does the Secretary of State accept the analysis of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that, with child benefit being frozen and child care support through the tax credit system being cut by 10%, families with children will need to earn 20% more this year than last to meet the soaring costs of child care?
- What will he do about universal credit to ensure that lone parents, in particular, do not face an unacceptable financial burden because of his changes?
A. Iain Duncan Smith (Secretary of State, Work and Pensions; Chingford and Woodford Green, Conservative)
- The hon. Gentleman referred to the work of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. We do not always accept everything that comes forward; there are often analyses that we do not accept.
- As far as we are concerned, reducing to five the age of a lone parent’s child at which the lone parent goes back to work—following the Labour party’s age reduction to seven—is the right thing to do. Getting lone parents to take control of their lives through work has to be good for them.
Q. Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East, Labour)
- What recent estimate he has made of the effect on child benefit payments in real terms in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14 of freezing such payments at the existing level?
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- See link for table that displays the estimated average change per week per child as a result of freezing the rates of child benefit for the next three years.
Q. Chris Williamson (Derby North, Labour)
- What is an estimate of the number of households that will not be eligible for child benefit as a result of the higher rate income tax threshold?
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The change to child benefit does not change the eligibility criteria for child benefit payments.
- It is estimated that around 1.5 million households will be affected by the proposed change to child benefit.
Q. Adrian Sanders (Torbay, Liberal Democrat)
- This question focuses on an assessment of the compliance of child benefit eligibility rules for separated couples with shared custody with rights of the child as expressed in the UN Convention on Rights of the Child.
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The UK fulfils the obligations of the UN by paying child benefit to parents to provide support for their child or children.
- The law states that child benefit cannot be paid for the same child to two people in the same week.
Q. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield, Labour)
- Will there by a review into the effectives of the process by which child tax credit and child benefit are transferred to other family members when they assume guardianship of a child?
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The HMRC aim to pay 60% of all new tax credits claims in 15 days and 69% of new child benefit claims in nine working days.
- It can take longer to award new claims where a child is involved in more than one tax credits and/or child benefit claim because HMRC must make separate inquiries.
- The HMRC continuously reviews the effectiveness of the process.
Q. Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston, Labour)
- What his estimate is of the number of single-income families which will be affected by the decision to end child benefit for households with a higher-rate taxpayer?
- How will full time mother who will lose child benefit under the Government’s proposals can retain their link to the national insurance system and their pension contributions?
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The withdrawal of child benefit from families containing a higher-rate taxpayer in 2013 will affect around 200,000 single-income households.
- Assurance is given that the link with national insurance contributions will be maintained.
Q. Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat)
- How much would be saved from child benefit paid to families with 16-19 years old in further education and unwaged training if payments were restricted to certain household incomes.
A. Lord Sassoon (Commercial Secretary, HM Treasury; Conservative)
- See link.
Q. Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)
- Has an equalities impact assessment been undertaken with respect to the proposal to withdraw child benefit from households with one higher rate tax payer.
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The Government published an 'overview of the impact of Spending Review 2010 on equalities' alongside the spending review document
Q. William Bain (Glasgow North East, Labour)
- Estimates of the average effect on the income of single and multiple income households of the proposed change to child benefit arrangements.
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The effect of the proposal is dependent on the number of children in each family affected.
- Families with one child will lose approximately £1,060 per annum.
- Families with two children will lose around £1,750 per annum.
- There are no higher-rate taxpayers in households in which no-one earns more than £44,000 so there will be no impact on these families.
Q. Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd, Labour)
- How many and what proportion of families with at least one higher rate taxpayer are eligible for child benefit payments in each (a) constituency and (b) region.
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- Estimates on the number and proportion of families’ eligible are available for each Government office region.
- Information on household income for child benefit claimants is not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Q. Chuka Umunna (Streatham, Labour)
- Recent estimates on the number of people and households of different ages, and genders which are entitled to child benefits.
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- At August 2009 640,000 men and 6,680,000 women who were in receipt of child benefit.
- At August 2009 there were 1,150,000 households who were in receipt of child benefit in respect of a young person aged over 16 years and at August 2008 there were 1,070,000 households.
Q. Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
- This question focuses on potential amendments to EU Regulation 883/2004 that looks at the relationship between EU member states and child benefits.
A. Justine Greening (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Putney, Conservative)
- See link.
Q. Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South, Labour)
- What is the estimate of the cost of implementing proposed changes to child benefit?
A. David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
- The preliminary estimate for delivering the change to child benefit announced by the Chancellor on 4 October 2010 is £130 million over the four year spending review period.
More resources
We expect that further resources will be placed in this section throughout 2011 as they appear. If you have seen useful resources, then please let us know through our Contact Us section.
Updated 21 March 2013