Govt committed to family tax benefit cut

The federal government will keep an unpopular plan to cut family payments to fund childcare measures, but is open to possible changes.

More than half a million households stand to lose the Family Tax Benefit Part B when their youngest child turns six under plans stalled in parliament.

The $3.5 billion savings will be used to pay for a new childcare package.

With Labor and the Greens opposed to the cut, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison is in talks with Senate crossbenchers on altering the plan.

He needs support from six of the eight crossbenchers to have his plan clear parliament.

One possible compromise would be to raise the cut-off age from six to 12 years.

Mr Morrison wouldn't confirm that but said the government was committed to the savings and was "actively" listening to ideas.

"We've had some feedback particularly on ... the under 6s measure and we're continuing to pursue those," Mr Morrison told ABC TV on Wednesday.

"We're in discussions about the precise nature of these things."

Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm supports scrapping the payment because it's a saving, but says some of his crossbench colleagues are concerned about single income families getting taxed heavily.

Regardless, Mr Morrison isn't counting on the Palmer United Party senator Dio Wang for his vote.

The minister has given up talks with the party on the family tax benefit changes, saying he wasn't going to waste time because its position was well known.