“very badly handled and the communication is even worse.
Forcing thousands into self assessment, many of whom have no idea they had to register by today
its also not right that a family can earn £99,999 a year and still receive the full payments yet another family on £60,000 will get nothing”

“Personally I think child benefit should be paid to all families regardless of income or wealth but only for two children (unless the second pregnancy is a multiple birth). If you want more children then you should be prepared to keep them not to rely on other people to do so (remember the state has no money).”

“...and today they announce they want to make more money available to families to help with childcare costs....

You couldn't make it up!”

“Why do we pay people to breed ?
You have them, you look after them.”

“Kids are the parents responsibility. Child benefit should be abolished completely. If you can't afford kids, then don't have them. Why should we all pay for your kids?”

“If they only pay child benefit (and associated benefits) for two children it would save more long term than this way. It would stop potential serial breeders in their tracks. By penalising higher taxpayers is not the way to go and gives others no incentive to improve their own prospects if they are going to be hit. These are the families who tend to fewer children anyway.”

“Janine:

Totally agree, said this for years, it would stop those breeding for another source of income when they try to make a career of living on benefits with no intention of working.

Also heard the one about breeding on religious grounds, the answer to this is also simple, if their religion dictates they have more than two children then let their respective religions pay for them.”

“We should issue breeding licences to responsible adults. There are an awful lot of chav parents out there who would not get a licence.

Unauthorised unlicenced breeding should lead to a fine sufficient to cover the full cost of NHS treatment and education the kid.”

“I personally can't see anything wrong with stopping child benefit when both parents earn a combined income of £60,000. What I do have a problem with, is Eastern Europeans coming here and claiming child benefit, when their children are being looked after by relatives back in Eastern Europe. Having contributed nothing to the economy of this country, they can claim all sorts of benefits, often without proper checks being conducted.”

“Jocky it's not when both parents earn over £60k though, but any one parent
Hence the irregularity that a family earning £60k get nothing yet one with both parents working and bringing in a combined income of £99,999 - almost twice the income, still get the full amount”

“It may seem hard but these people are on over £1,000 a week, I brought up two children on a take home of less that £100 a week.
The people that I feel sorry for are the under 25s who are loosing their housing benefit, if these under 25 got anything like £1,000 they wouldn't worry about housing benefit, and these people on a £1,000 a week can afford a good accountant who can get them back what the child allowance was from their tax.
The government are also talking about taking bus passes off pensioners, if these pensioners got anything like a grand a week they wouldn't use buses they would use taxies.”

“It should be based on the total household income of the parents, not per individual. Also agree it should stop after the first two children. Maybe then we'll see less stories in the press from "proud" families boasting about having a dozen kids and three generations under the same roof!!”

“I'm not massively educated on politics but I don't agree that every new change that comes out effects the people that are contributing to the economy.

If I get 60k, I'm paying a good amount of tax, probably buying more than the average person hence paying more VAT etc etc.

If I'm on benefits, I can't and don't contribute as much but get more help.

We should be rewarding people for looking after themselves not penalising them. (obviously that's never going to happen)

Dan”

“It has been badly implemented, but i totally agree with the principle that taxpayers shouldn't have to support either people who have enough money to support their kids easily (and lets face it not many of us earn over 60k a year) - also we shouldn't have to support people who have lots of kids and no job.

It's about time that the massive sense of entitlement that some people have about these kinds of benefits is stripped away, benefits should be a safety net for the most vulnerable in society not a cushion for people to supplement already fantastic incomes.”

“Far simpler and easier to administer if CB was limited to just the first two kids, after that ist the parents responsibility to fund a larger family. It would also stop benefit 'professionals' from having kid after kid in order to provide an income.”

“Agreed dave12548 - why not set up an e-petition on the government web site?”