Child benefit changes
Child benefit changes
Research by Opinium reveals that 71% of parents receiving child benefit do not think that the government has done enough to keep them informed about how they will be affected by changes to the benefit system coming into effect today.
We surveyed recipients of child benefit and discovered a great deal of dissatisfaction with the way that the policy has been communicated.
Under the new system child benefit will cease to be a universal benefit and instead will be dependent on the parents? income. More than a million families are expected to lose some or all of their child benefit due to the change, which the government hopes will save £1.5 billion per year.
Those families no longer entitled to the benefit will continue to be paid, only to have the money clawed back through the tax system unless they fill in a self assessment form or opt out of receiving the benefit altogether.
Fears that many people are not well informed about the changes were stoked last week when it was revealed that the government has failed to contact at least 300,000 households receiving the benefit to make them aware of the changes.
Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 2013 UK adults aged 18+ from 4th to 7th January 2013. 513 respondents were recipients of child benefit. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.
