Chancellor George Osborne has partly reversed a planned cut in child benefit, meaning more families will be entitled to help than was originally proposed, though anomalies still exist.
Under the previous plans, parents earning more than £42,475 a year each – the 40% tax rate threshold – were set to lose their payments from January 2013.
But the move proved unpopular, sparking claims lone parents and single-earner families were being penalised.
A mother and father earning £40,000 each would have kept their payments while a single parent on £43,000 would have lost out under the old proposals.
The new plans allow a family to continue getting the full allowance as long as neither parent earns more than £50,000 a year.
If a parent earns over that threshold, they will lose 1% of the benefit for every extra £100 they earn. This will be taken as an income tax rise.
Households where at least one parent earns over £60,000 a year will not see any gain from child benefit.
The result still creates an anomaly whereby a family can earn £100,000 a year between them and get the full benefit.
But if one parent earns £60,001 and the other doesn't work, they won't gain at all.
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