Child Benefit

Debate between Baroness Afshar and Lord Sassoon

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, that is a complete misrepresentation of the position of my right honourable friend the Work and Pensions Secretary, so the question becomes completely redundant.

[Baroness Afshar]

My Lords, are the Government aware that for many minority families, particularly women working in the informal, “black”, sector, it is not easy to fill the forms required or meet the criteria established? Yet for those people family allowance is the only means to enable them to continue working.

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, what we are talking about principally this afternoon is the restriction of child benefit. The restriction starts to come in only where one taxpayer in the family is earning more than £50,000. In those circumstances, clearly there will generally be a capability for dealing with the forms. I went on to the website this morning and while I could be highly critical of some of HMRC’s forms, I found that the guidance on the changes to child benefit was remarkably clear and easy.