§ Mrs. Haymanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the April 1979 uprating of child benefit.
§ Mr. EnnalsChild benefit is going up this week from the level of £3 established only last November to £4, as the second phase of the increases announced by the Chancellor on 11 April 1978 comes into effect. This increase means that within the space of two years child benefit has been increased from £1 for the first child, and £1.50 for each subsequent child to £4 for each child.
While in March 1978 the mother of a two-child family was receiving only £2.50 in child benefit the new rate provides her with £8 a week.
The introduction of child benefit has been partially financed by the planned phasing-out of child tax allowances. But the move to the new £4 rate will cost over £500 million more in 1979–80 than the value of the child tax allowance which has been withdrawn this month. Therefore, most working families will be better off under the new system. The low paid, who were not eligible for tax relief under the old system of FAM and CTA, benefit most of all from the new system.
As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced yesterday, the Government had planned a further increase in child 902W benefit in November 1979.—[Vol. 965, c. 1196.]
The benefit is paid in respect of some 13½ million children to over 7 million mothers. Over 300,000 one-parent families also receive a £2 a week supplement in addition to their child benefit.