I was told many years ago that in France, if your children misbehaved, you would lose child benefits.My source at the time was a good one so I expect it was true but I have been unable to find any background on this.
It is the kind of measure which, if implemented on the second piece of truancy, the second time an under 16 was found hanging around a street corner after dark, the first suspension from school and the first criminal act reported to police, it might possibly have a significant effect on juvenile misbehaviour.
We must however NOT attempt it in this country!
We would be incapable of seeing it through - for even say, a year . There would be hand-wringing appeals, sympathetic articles in The Mirror, outbursts of anger from The Guardian. There would be countless different ways found by social workers to ensure that no benefits were actually lost. To top all of that, the bureaucracy would be a nightmare.
If made mandatory however, with NO excuses then .....
