General Chat

14:08

"Taking a short break from the IFS verdict, the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks has written about a controversial line in the summer budget which suggests a woman who becomes pregnant with a third child after being raped would have to justify her position in order to get tax credits. She writes –

The government has been challenged to justify an “incredibly distasteful” proposal in Wednesday’s budget which would require a woman who had a third child as the result of rape to justify her position in order to avoid losing tax credits.

The plans to restrict child tax credits to two children for new claimants from 2017 include a number of exemptions, including multiple births, and set out that “the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC will develop protections for women who have a third child as a result of rape or other exceptional circumstances”.

Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central, who first drew attention to the clause on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, described what would inevitably result in a woman having to prove to a DWP official that she had been raped as appalling. "

'develop protections'

Seems reasonable and may encourage women to report a rape, even if it did occur 30 odd weeks previously. A letter from her medical practitioner or local police station would be sufficient proof.

The comment at least shows that they've tried to consider the 'yes, but...' scenarios.

???