Budget 2012: Child benefit cut-off point rises to 50,000

21 March 2012 1 min read Neil Puffett Early Years

The proposed cut-off point for the withdrawal of child benefit will be increased to 50,000 with a sliding scale introduced to avoid families losing all of the payment if a parent earns less than 60,000, the Chancellor has announced.

Outlining the measure in today’s budget, George Osborne said all sections of society must make a contribution to reducing the deficit.

Under initial proposals, which came in for sustained criticism from children’s rights groups, a family with a single earner on more than £42,475 would have lost child benefit.

As a result of today’s announcement, benefit withdrawal will apply on a gradual basis to households where someone has an income between £50,000 and £60,000 from January 2013.

Households where someone has an income in excess of £60,000 a year will no longer gain from child benefit.

"We want to avoid a cliff edge where families lose all their child benefit if they earn just a pound more," Osborne said.

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