£20 extra on child benefit (which is still not means tested, so that Dukes and Duchesses qualify!)
Jacko. It's probably the Dukes and Duchesses who need it more than most. If you had said the Beckhams and (damn can't think of any other overpaid footballers with kids) celebs you might have been closer to the mark.
Can anyone explain why we still have this stupid payment? Wasn't it brought in after the war to try and encourage families to have children to repopulate and replace those lost during the war?
If we scraped child benefit altogether the govt could save on all the administrators who have to, err, administrate it
. We could then save on the allowance and the pay and pensions for all those involved in running the out-of-date scheme. This could pay for a lower rate of tax which would benefit all of those who actually work and therefore pay for this anachronism.
Let's face it. Those that are educated enough to actually put this towards their children are unlikely to need it. And those that aren't are probably spending the cash on booze, fags and McBurger Fried Foods so it isn't actually relieving "child poverty".
Lights blue touch paper, grabs tin hat and popcorn and retires carefully