Scrapping the two-child benefit cap is the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty, charities have argued in a letter to the prime minister.
Failing to scrap the limit could put child poverty at its highest level since records began by the end of this parliament, groups including Barnardo’s, Save the Children UK and Citizens Advice have warned.
The two-child benefit cap, imposed by Tory former chancellor George Osborne, prevents parents from claiming benefits for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017. A separate limit on benefits, imposed under the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2013, restricts how much a household can receive in benefits in total.
Charities have been ramping up pressure on the government to ditch the two-child restriction as part of its new child poverty plan.
The strategy is due to be published this spring, although the End Child Poverty Coalition has said it believes the document might not come until June.
The letter urges Sir Keir Starmer to “direct the full weight of your government into reducing child poverty with urgency”.
“Scrapping the two-child limit is by far the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty,” it reads.
“It would lift 350,000 children out of poverty overnight and result in 700,000 children living in less deep poverty.
“If it is not scrapped, the stark reality is that child poverty will be significantly higher at the end of this parliament than when the government took office, making this the first time a Labour government would leave such a legacy, and the number of children living in poverty will be at its highest since records began.”
The Child Poverty Action Group, which signed the letter, estimates that the number of children in poverty will jump from 4.5 million currently to 4.8 million by 2029 unless urgent action is taken.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who has long been a vocal critic of the cap, urged the government to listen to the charities’ warnings.
She told The Independent: “It is vital that the government follows the evidence and heeds the advice of experts.
“Keeping people, and no less children, out of poverty must be an absolute priority for government, not least in a country where so many have so much.
“The UK is the second most inequitable country in the world, and Labour’s duty is to consign poverty to history.”
While the two-child benefit cap applies across the UK, the Scottish government has pledged to mitigate the policy’s impacts for people there, although payments for this are not expected to begin until 2026.
The prime minister has previously said he wants to scrap the cap but that the government cannot currently afford to, repeatedly stressing his focus on growing the economy.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that Labour rebels are doubling down on their opposition to the government’s sweeping benefit cuts, despite ministers planning to offer spending on child poverty as a “trade-off” to win their support.
Dozens of Labour MPs are expected to abstain or vote against the £4.8bn welfare cuts, announced in Rachel Reeves’s spring statement, when they come before parliament.
In a bid to minimise the scale of a rebellion — which threatens to be the biggest against Sir Keir’s government yet — ministers are planning to publish Labour’s long-awaited strategy to tackle child poverty shortly before the crunch vote.
The strategy will contain additional money for poor parents of under-fives, The Observer reported, with work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall believed to be looking at plans to support young children without going as far as scrapping the controversial two-child benefit cap.
The renewed calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap come just weeks after think tank the Resolution Foundation said increasing the limit to three children could reduce child poverty by 320,000 by the next general election, costing £3.2bn per year by 2030.
A government spokesperson said: “No child should be in poverty – that’s why our Ministerial Taskforce is exploring all available levers to give every child the best start in life as part of our Plan for Change.
“Alongside delivering on our Get Britain Working White Paper to support people into good jobs and make everyone better off, we’re increasing the Living Wage, uprating benefits and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions to help low-income households.”
Source: independent.co.uk
