- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday March 15 2000 17.11 GMT
The government announced last December that it plans to wrap all the existing means-tested child support benefits into one exciting new bundle, called an integrated child credit. It will take in payments made for children to families on job-seekers allowance, income support and the working families tax credit. Confusingly, the only payment which won't be included in the ICC is child benefit which is paid to all families regardless of income.
The new benefit is supposed to make the whole complex system of support for children in low income families, simpler to understand. It will be paid to the main carer - in most cases, mothers - which anti-poverty groups have hailed as a breakthrough because surveys show women spend more of their income on their children than men do, who are more likely to spend extra money on themselves.
So far, the government has not promised any extra money for low income families with children. But as part of the launch of the ICC, and given their pledge to eradicate child poverty within a generation, it is a tempting target for the Chancellor this Budget.
