Child benefit cuts lead thousands of parents to 'opt out' 5 January 2013 Last updated at 09:51 Some 200,000 parents have already opted out of receiving child benefit, ahead of changes coming into force on Monday. Treasury Minister David Gauke said that was "slightly above" what was expected. Families with one parent earning more than £50,000 will lose part of the benefit. It will be fully withdrawn for those earning above £60,000. But unless they actively opt out of receiving it by the end of Sunday, those parents will still get the money and pay it back through income tax. Critics say the change will mean many thousands more people will end up having to fill in self-assessment tax returns. On Friday, leading think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned the policy created "administrative complexities" and could cause "incoherence in the welfare system." Speaking on Five Live, Mr Gauke defended the changes, insisting the part of the HM Revenue and Customs website which explains the changes had had around 1.2 million visitors. He said: "Something like 200,000 people have opted out, which is slightly above what we'd expected at this stage so there does seem to be quite a lot of awareness about it."