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Child-related benefits may be capped for families with more than two children, says Iain Duncan Smith

Poorer families could lose their entitlement to extra support if they decide to have more children, the work and pensions secretary has said.

Large families on benefits should be able to decide if they can afford to have more children, like most families do. This is what Mr Duncan Smith will say tonight in a lecture at the University of Cambridge.

Ahead of the speech, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that limiting child-related benefits is not so much about ‘penalising’ families or saving money. He said, ‘It’s not just about the money, because it’s also about children growing up in workless households. Their lives are destroyed by this. They need also to learn that it’s the right thing for parents to go to work.’  

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