Over the past few months, we’ve run a series of pieces from contributors for our Reducing Demand for Government series. Here is a list of proposals made by various authors under the families heading:
- “Single parent benefits could be withdrawn more gradually to reduce the so-called couple penalty.” (David Goodhart)
- “Paying childcare subsidies direct to parents, as in Canada”. (David Goodhart)
- “Subsidies for granny flat conversions and encouraging fathers to contribute more to raising children […] longer paternity leave.” (David Goodhart)
- “A new simplified system of childcare credits and allowing families to frontload child benefit during the earlier years.” (Sebastian Payne)
- “A broader and deeper family tax allowance with more generous breaks. Unmarried cohabiting couples also need to be recognised”. (Sebastian Payne)
- “Ensure that the rise in take home pay is paid to the lower earner in the couple, so more low earners seek to take advantage of the [family tax] allowance.” (Sebastian Payne)
- “Allow certain families to transfer their full £12,570 allowance to their spouse – up to £2,514 each year per couple.” (Sebastian Payne)
- “Mothers under 30 pay no income tax, with larger families receiving a lifetime exemption from personal income tax.” (Frank Young)
- “A sizable government loan for buying a family-sized home which is progressively written off as families have more children.” (Frank Young)
- “Reform our tax system to make it more family-friendly, by introducing transferable allowances or even income-splitting for married couples with children.” (Tom Clougherty)
- “Reverse George Osborne’s changes to child benefit, or at least ensure that only the best-off families face child benefit withdrawal.” (Tom Clougherty)
- “Roll back regulatory changes that have pushed two-thirds of childminders out of the market in a decade”. (Tom Clougherty)
- “Consider whether more can be done to support informal ‘friends and family’ childcare”. (Tom Clougherty)
- “Make sure any industrial strategy includes measures, such as tax breaks or other inducements, to spur employers toward making it easier for workers to balance their job with the demands of being a parent.” (Jonathan Werran)
- “Tax households rather than individuals – recognising in this way that the sacrifices parents make in raising children benefits us all.” (Cristina Odone)
- “Boost the Marriage Allowance to allow parents in legally-recognised partnerships earning less than the basic rate income tax threshold to transfer 100 per cent of their personal allowance to their spouse, if their child is under 16.” (Cristina Odone)
- “Give parents direct payments for formal or informal provision, be that relatives, creche, a childminder, or the parents themselves.” (Cristina Odone)
- “Give parents the option to frontload child benefit for under-fives.” (Cristina Odone)
- “The planning framework ought to incentivise that neighbourhoods are created with all the amenities that make for a good family life: sociability, belonging and safety.” (Bartek Staniszewski)
- “The supply of flexible childcare must improve, and we must protect the crucial work of stay-at-home parents through adequately paid paternity and maternity leave.” (Bartek Staniszewski)
- “Reform our tax system, our education, industrial and housing policy to make having children attractive – or at least positive.” (Miriam Cates)
- “Offer families vouchers to use as they wish, some for formal or informal childcare, and others to reduce their working hours.” (Miriam Cates)
- “Enshrining an Essentials Guarantee in our social security system, so that no one faces tough times without at least enough income to stay warm, fed and healthy.” (Helen Barnard)