The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that 380,000 universal credit households had a third or subsequent child born on or after 4 April 2017, and 71,000 child tax credits households, meaning a total of 450,000 households were impacted by the two-child limit. This is an increase of over 30,000 since last year.
Charities and campaigners have relentlessly called for the two-child benefits cap to be removed to prevent families facing hardship since it was introduced by the Conservative chancellor George Osborne.
While the prime minister Keir Starmer has said he wants to end child poverty, he has not committed to removing the cap.
Giving his first press conference at the weekend, when he was asked whether Labour would get rid of the cap, he said he ‘understood how important it is, but intends to have economic stability, which is why he can’t make a commitment to it.’
However, he did say the government was ‘already setting out their child poverty strategy, which will deliver a reduction in child poverty’.
According to the DWP figures for April, 1.3 million children are living in a universal credit household and 270,000 living in a child tax credit household – a total of almost 1.6 million children.
Charities call on PM to scrap the cap 'immediately'
Save the Children called it an ‘outrage’ that 440,000 families are being denied vital support because of the unfair two-child limit.
It said the ‘cruel’ two-child limit should be scrapped immediately to prevent families from facing ‘hardship and destitution.’
Action for Children said the impact of the two-child limit is ‘devastating’ for our country’s poorest parents who are trying their ‘absolute hardest to make ends meet’.
The charity called on the Government to ‘urgently bring forward its child poverty strategy’, which must include scrapping the two-child limit.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), which has published findings from its survey of 560 families hit by the policy that are deeply suffering from deprivation, said, ‘Children are losing their life chances to the two-child limit now – they can’t wait for the new government to align every star before the policy is scrapped. The PM came to office pledging a bold, ambitious child poverty-reduction plan and there’s no way to deliver on that promise without scrapping the two-child limit, and fast.’
CPAG survey
Findings from CPAG’s research reveal:
- Almost half (54 per cent) struggle to pay their rent or mortgage because of the policy. A similar proportion struggle to manage childcare costs.
- For the vast majority (93 per cent), the policy has affected their ability to pay for food.
Respondents reported having to keep their children off school because of a lack of money for basics like school shoes. Some mothers saif they had to cut their maternity leave short to return to work, when their children were as young as four months.
Some parents said that their children are ‘clingy’ and less confident than older siblings because the two-child limit makes social activities like playgroups unaffordable.
