Finance Bill — Clause 8 — Study Of Impact of Child Benefit Proposals on Single Earner Families — 19 Apr 2012 at 18:00

The majority of MPs voted not to require a study into ways of reducing the impact on families with only one earner of proposals to recover child benefit from those earning over £50,000.

The text of the amendment to clause 8 of the Finance Bill 2012^[1], which introduces provisions intended to recover child benefit from those earning over £50,000, was as follows:

• (2) Schedule 1 will not come into effect until a study has been carried out into ways of mitigating the impact of the Schedule on families with only one earner, compared with families with two earners, and placed in the Library of the House of Commons.’^[2]

The proposal to require the study was made by Cathy Jamieson MP (Labour, Kilmarnock & Loudoun). Concerns raised during debate by other MPs appeared to focus fact the proposed law does not consider the combined total income of couples. Christopher Chope MP (Christchurch, Conservative) commented on this point saying:

• two people on £50,000 a year with children will not have to pay the high income child benefit charge, whereas a family with children with one person earning over £60,000 will have to pay it.

Mr Chope appeared to consider this to be unfair; the rejected proposal for the study appears to have been intended to look into this kind of issue.

• [1] Schedule 1 of the Finance Bill 2012 as introduced on 28 March 2012
• [2] Official Report, House of Commons, 28 March 2012
• [3] Christopher Chope MP (Christchurch, Conservative) House of Commons, 19 April 2012

Debate in Parliament | Source |