Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of Child Benefit rules on children in shared care arrangements.

The current system places Child Benefit in the hands of one parent or guardian and gives that person responsibility for allocating it between capital and day to day costs. This ensures that the family with priority of entitlement for a child is provided with a suitable level of support for any particular child at any one time.

It is vital especially for parents and families on lower incomes that enough support is directed to them to lift the child out of poverty or to keep the child out of poverty.

We recognise that where families share responsibility for a child there may be issues around the availability of support. However, payment of support to the person with priority of entitlement for a child is seen as the most appropriate way to deal with the majority of families with children.