MYTHS ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY 3: “OUT-OF-WORK FAMILIES GET BENEFITS FOR HAVING CHILDREN WHILST IN-WORK FAMILIES DON’T”

It isn’t just out-of-work families who receive extra social security payments when they have a child. At present all families get extra social security payments when they have a child through Child Benefit payments. In addition, many low to modestly paid working families receive extra payments through the tax credit system and the state spends more on Child Tax Credits for working families than it does on out-of-work families.

In 2010/11 HMRC spent £12.8 billion on in-work Child Tax Credit compared to £7.6 billion on out-of-work Child Tax Credit.