Question Child Benefit changes

[Furr]

People in this country have gotten too used to having their lives subsidised by the state, getting more than they should for what they achieve. The link needs to be broken in the public mind that the state is there to give them a standard of living they don't deserve. Universal benefits are ridiculous, why should millionaires get winter fuel payments for example? and if your wealthy but can't afford the loss of child benefits then your doing it wrong.

 

[milou]

Many people are being introduced to significant debt whilst they are young via student loans and as such, there's a view that people are used to incurring a relatively smaller debt for traditional household and personal expenses. The UK's largest survey of student finance, published by Push, reveals that students who started at university last year can expect to owe nearly £23,200 by the time they leave. I guess a few high value Sony products probably seem insignificant to that.

 

[milou]

Edit: for what it's worth, child benefit in one form or another, has been in existence for the past 100 years.

 

[kirennia]

Pfft, I started in 2006 and got £25,000 because while they introduced the new yearly costs, they didn't introduce the bursaries for lower income households until the following year. Basically, I lost some £6000 right off the bat for starting that year.

 

[rynnor]

Universal benefits are ridiculous, why should millionaires get winter fuel payments for example? and if your wealthy but can't afford the loss of child benefits then your doing it wrong.

The idea of universal benefits was that everyone would thus have a stake in the welfare state and that it also meant there would be no stigma attached to claiming them.

On a more practical level, means testing is horribly expensive and can eat up all the cost savings.