Yes, the costs of means testing, along with the delays inherent in managing it are the reasons for Sunak making it universal.
That was a feature of the system, not a bug. Government covid responses across the west were intended to transfer obscene amounts of public money into the hands of the rich.
It's a completely blunt tool, and there will be numerous cases where people of all types and income will get multiple payments, mainly because of the insistence of a July payment, not allowing time for cross Government system data matching to de-duplicate.
As Labour should be proposing.
Affluent households are entitled to Child Benefit. It's the universal principle. If it keeps costs down and enables a quick throughput that's fine by me.
Can’t beat a bit of equality can you. Isn’t that the mantra these days ? Or just when it suits.
I'd prefer those that need it get help. My mum and dad are on gold plated pensions 500k bungalow, 4 foreign holidays a year, money no object. My auntie is 82 and on the bones of her arse, state pension only. Sorry its wrong.
As they are likely to be higher rate taxpayers even with their tax avoidance schemes they’ll still be able to claim tax relief if they donate it to charity. They will still gain, just a bit less.
No they're not. Child benefit is means tested these days and restricted to two children.
