There are a few reports – unconfirmed ones – that Child Benefit could be cut in the 2012 Budget.
Child Benefit was cut in the last Budget (Child Benefit Cuts Budget 2011) – .
It looks like this time it may be a €10 per child per month cut – but we will probably have to wait until Budget Day to find out. What will probably happen will be a smaller cut than €10 – and then everyone will say it wasn’t as bad as expected !
There could well be matching increases to the child related component of welfare benefits – which would have the effect of cancelling out any Child Benefit cuts for those on welfare benefits.
Child Benefit in Ireland compares quite well with our neighbours in the UK.
Here – a family with four children would currently get €624 a month.
The same family in the UK would receive just £262 a month (£60.50 weekly) – which is currently about €310 Euro. So – Child Benefit here is double that in the UK.
It might not be a fair comparison to make – because the UK have more child related tax credits and they have lower child related costs in some areas such as school books and healthcare.
There were calls to tax Child Benefit here – which would not affect lower income families as much – but it looks like there are “technical” problems in doing this.