NO KIDDING
FAMILIES with 10 or more kids are costing taxpayers £3.4million a year in child benefit.
The number of homes with kids in the double digits has gone up by almost half since 2015, with 430 households now sharing £64,454 a week between them.
And figures show they include 15 families around the country who claim the payout for 13 or more kids – getting at least £185.10 a week each.
Currently child benefit is £20.70 for the oldest child, and £13.70 for each one after that. Families who earn more than £50,000 a year pay some back, while those on £60,000 see the full amount taken in tax.
But none of the mega-sized families fall into those income brackets, and figures show the number claiming has continued to soar. The statistics show a UK total of 7.38million families who get child benefit.
Of those, 2,030 households have eight children, for which they are each handed £116.60 a week – £12.3million a year.
Another 755 families with nine children pocket £130.30 a week, totalling an annual £5.1million. In 2015, the Conservatives proposed limiting the benefit to just the first three children for new families – potentially saving around £300million a year.
Unfair
James Price, campaign manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s unfair to expect taxpayers to subsidise a lifestyle for others which they are not able to enjoy themselves.
“Many hard-pressed families are forced to make extremely difficult choices about what they can and can’t afford. Those relying BRITAIN’S Got Talent trio Miss Tres are spurred on by the loss of a member to cancer.
The transgender group from the Philippines impressed the judges on last week’s show and have been likened to the Spice Girls.
But behind their energetic performance we can reveal Mia Narciso, also known as Romeo, died of lung cancer, at 40, in September 2016.
Mia was in the group when they performed in Philippines Got Talent in 2013 and Asia’s Got Talent in 2015.
They posted on Facebook: “To be honest, we did BGT not because of exposure, but to continue giving entertainment and to inspire most especially our LGBT community and above all to continue the legacy we started with our beloved brother Mia Narciso.
“I promised him/her that we would continue all our dreams not for ourselves but for our brothers and sisters in the LGBT community.”
Miss Tres is now Mavey, 36, Mariko, 43, and Crissy, 35. Mariko is the only original member.
On BGT they sang Tom Jones’s Sex Bomb and shocked the judges by revealing they were transgender. Amanda Holden said: “You’re just so hot. It’s unfair”
A source said Simon Cowell thinks they could go far: “They went down a storm with the audience. They’ve real sass, like the Spice Girls.” on taxpayer-funded benefits should not be immune from those considerations.”
And campaign group Population Matters warned: “Population growth exerts pressure across our lives, from public services to the natural environment.
“We need smaller families, not larger ones – financial incentives for smaller families should form part of an integrated and strategic approach to achieving a sustainable population. “Right now there is no population strategy in the UK and it is very overdue.” In the double-digit homes, the 305 families who have 10 children pick up £144 a week each – totalling £2.3million a year. A further 80 have grown to 11 youngsters, at an annual cost of £656,032, while 30 families claim for 12, costing the taxpayer a further £267,384. The UK’S biggest family welcomed their 20th child in September last year. Parents Sue and Noel Radford, of Morecambe, Lancs, have vowed little Archie will be their last. The family, who live in a 10-bedroom home, run a successful bakery and claim no handouts other than child benefit.