Govt may rethink child benefit cut for high earners

Government plans to scrap child benefit for higher earners will be revised to protect families with stay-at-home mothers, David Cameron has hinted.

He said the government was prepared to "look at the way" the benefit was due to be cut and consider a new system ahead of the Budget in March, reports The Telegraph.

From next year, child benefit is to be removed from any household which has someone earning above the higher-rate tax threshold of £42,745.

But critics said the proposals would mean a family with two people earning £40,000 - a total of £80,000 - will keep the state handout while poorer families, where the mother is caring for the children, will lose out.

If the cut is finalised, it will strip child benefit from about 1.2 million families and save the Exchequer an estimated £1bn a year.

Cameron admitted the current proposal had been criticised for its "unfairness" in an interview with House magazine, a publication for MPs.