George Osborne has broken another election promise today by announcing that Child Benefit would be withdrawn from households where there is at least one earner paying the higher rate of income tax. The 40% rate of income tax is levied on earnings over about £44,000 per year. Child benefit has always been universal: paid to parents without means testing.

Not only does this involve a flagrant breach of an election pledge, it also creates grotesque anomalies. So a household on £44,000 earned by one higher rate taxpayer will lose the benefit, worth £20.33 a week for the first child and £13.40 a week for subsequent children. However, a household with earnings of £80,000 from two earners both on £40,000 a year will still receive the benefit.

Nick Raynsford, Member of Parliament for Greenwich & Woolwich said:

“Child Benefit has always been a universal benefit paid to all parents irrespective of income to help support families. A universal benefit avoided the unnecessary bureaucracy and costs of means testing.

“George Osborne’s cut reintroduces bureaucracy and unfairness. Thousands of middle-income families will see their incomes reduced in an entirely clumsy and arbitrary manner. When other families who earn more continue to receive the benefit they will rightly feel betrayed.

“This is simply another case of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition failing to understand the realities of family life and the financial pressures that many people face when raising children. It’s ill-thought through and undermines a benefit which works for families”