Nusrat Ghani, MP for Wealden, has welcomed the Government’s 2024 Spring Budget plans for parents and families in Wealden and across the nation.
Two key aspects for the High Income Benefit Charge were announced from the 2024 Spring Budget last week, which supports hard-working families in paying for the costs associated with having children so they can balance their work alongside being a parent.
The threshold for the High-Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) has been raised from £50,000 to £60,000, taking 170,000 families out of paying this tax charge from April 2024.
The Budget also confirmed the increasing of that taper to £80,000 (the point at which the Child Benefit is fully withdrawn) – halving the rate at which HICBC withdraws child benefit, thereby also improving people’s incentives to continue working or take up more hours. This will deliver on the Government’s promise of a stronger economy and a brighter future.
This also builds on the Government’s Autumn Budget, which delivers the most significant expansion of childcare in a decade so that from September 2025, working families in England will be offered 30 hours of free childcare for their child aged nine months old up to school age. This is a package worth £6,500 for every family with a two-year-old using 35 hours of childcare a week, in turn helping more parents into the job that is right for them.
Alongside these changes to the High-Income Child Benefit Charge, the Government is already committed to improving childcare support:
👉🏽Offering 15 hours free childcare a week for children aged two, three and four years old, ensuring parents are not penalised for taking on more work.
👉🏽Offering all working families in England with three and four-year-old children 30 hours of early education for 38 weeks of the year – this is a total of 1,140 hour per year, helping parents take up more work.
👉🏽Cutting taxes for 27 million working people, meaning this year the Government will deliver a tax cut to National Insurance worth £900 for the average worker.
Nusrat Ghani said: “The Spring Budget delivers a fairer system for families who wish to work and care for their children by raising the threshold for the High Income Child Benefit Charge, meaning hard-working parents can keep more of the money they earn. I have been working closely with childcare and early years providers in Wealden as well as meeting with parents and schools in campaigning for additional support in this sector, so I welcome these additions from the Spring Budget to the already significant expansions of funded early years entitlements for parents from April 2024.”
