One of the most important parts of the budget earlier this week was the changes to child benefit, which will offer significant support for families in the future.
Two changes are being made to child benefit:
Firstly, the threshold for when the high-income child benefit charge kicks in increases from £50,000 to £60,000 – meaning that 170,000 families around the country will benefit.
Secondly, for those families with an earner over £60,000, the rate will be withdrawn at a slower rate.
Taken together, this will mean nearly half a million families benefit with an average gain of up to £12,60 per year and, in addition, next year 30 hours of free childcare is being introduced for all families with a child between 9 months up to school age. This is a package which could be worth up to £6,500 per year (for a family with a two-year old child who uses 35 hours of childcare each week).
Striking the right balance in changing tax and spending is always a tricky one, but hopefully all of these changes are a welcome step in the right direction for families and will help quite a number of people in North East Derbyshire!
