Fight for fairer cash help for multiple birth families
by Linda Jones (www.gotyourhandsfull.com)
Twinsclub is supporting a national campaign to press for more cash
for families with multiple birth children.
The campaign aims to close a "loophole" in the tax credit system
which means parents of multiple birth children are losing out on
hundreds of pounds.
Please sign a petition here:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/taxcreditstwins
Parents are being urged to sign this petition, as well as taking
part in a letter-writing blitz to their local MP.
Lindsey Gray, Twinsclub founder, said: "The Child Tax Credit is
made up of three elements; the family element of £545, an amount
payable per child dependent on household income, and an additional
£545 baby element payable for the first year. This baby element
is only payable for one baby at a time.
"This is wholly unfair. Families with twins, as opposed to two
children born say 18 months apart, are missing out on £545 and families
with triplets or more are being short-changed by more than £1,000
"Having twins or more brings additional emotional, practical and
above all financial pressures and this is the latest blow from a
Government that does not recognise the extra costs having a multiple
birth family brings.
"While campaigners including Twinsclub and Tamba welcome the fact
that the Government has recognised the additional costs that a baby
brings, the needs of multiple birth families have clearly been overlooked
because much of the extra costs of babies has to be simply duplicated
(or triplicated) with multiples."
And while we are on the subject of campaigning for more money,
if you haven't done so already, you may like to join in calls for
the Make Child Benefit Count campaign.
More than 4,000 people, including hundreds of multiple birth families,
have already supported the campaign. The next stage of the campaign
is to encourage your MP to support an Early Day Motion on the issue,
which says that both or all children in a family should be allocated
the same amount of child benefit. Of course this is most relevant
to multiple births families, because of the added financial pressure
and the fact that the "older" child may be able to claim that status,
by minutes or even seconds.
You can write to your MP at the House of Commons, London SW1 0AA
or contact them via www.writetothem.com
Lots more information about the campaign and how you can help at:
http://www.cpag.org.uk/MakeChildBenefitCount/MCBC_home.htm
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