Stay-at-home mothers are being unfairly penalised, says the Bishop of Exeter

In the latest of a series of articles in The Telegraph newspaper looking into the Coalition Government's taxation policies affecting families, the Rt Rev Michael Langrish has said that "Mothers who choose to stay at home to care for their children are being unfairly penalised by a Government that has failed to reward their role at the heart of society." 

The Bishop has also said that his views represent those of a number of bishops who are concerned by the Government’s apparent lack of support for family life.

Picking up on a speech made by the Bishop of Exeter in the House of Lords on 17 January, The Telegraph wrote "The Bishop of Exeter said that traditional families were being hit by the Coalition in a manner that was “actually unfair” and which risked costing society more in the future."

This follows a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released on Wednesday 27 March, which revealed that "the average family with one worker and two children loses 27. 9 per cent of their wages in tax, compared with 26.2 per cent before the Coalition was elected".

The Bishop of Exeter, in his speech to the House of Lords in January, attacked the government’s changes to child benefit for penalising families where only one parent works.

He said the change introduced “significant” unfairness into the tax system. He said those who said that stay at home parents should go out to work had a “deeply misguided view” as most families where one parent stays at home do so out of necessity, rather than choice, because they have a disabled child or relative, or a child under five.

The Bishop said: “The majority of one-earner families are one-earners out of necessity rather than by choice. This is extremely important because there are those who give the clear impression that one-earner families should not be helped because all stay-at-home parents should get paid employment. This is a deeply misguided view that has no regard for the constraints that one-earner families operate in, the sacrifices they make and their significant contribution to the national well-being.”

He criticized the Prime Minister for employing “an odd definition of fairness” that allowed a single earner couple bringing home £50,000 to be taxed but allowed a dual earner couple bringing home £99,000 to keep all their child benefit.

The Bishop said figures from the charity CARE showed that single earner couples were already paying more tax than two earner couples with the same income, because they could use only one tax allowance.

He called for reform of the child benefit system and a transferable tax allowance for married couples in the March Budget. “Let us not forget that most one-earner families do not have the option of becoming two-earner families, that they make an incredibly important contribution to our national wellbeing and should not be penalised for doing so.”

Despite first making these comments two months ago, the Bishop has said on BBC Radio Devon this morning that he still holds with these opinions. "We have a great deal of rhetoric from the Government on supporting family life and we were told by David Cameron that this would be the most family-friendly government ever. We are also told about the importance of early years parenting, and yet the Government own policies constantly discriminate against those who wish to put effort into the nurture and the parenting of their children."

He went on to say: "All the evidence shows is that where one family stays at home and nurtures a child through those early pre-school years, the later benefits on health, education and social behaviour are such that it saves the State a great deal"