THE two-child benefit cap has dragged 30,000 more children into poverty since Labour took office, fresh analysis has indicated.
Ahead of the eighth anniversary of the Tories putting the policy in place, The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) carried out research which also suggested 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty instantly at a cost of £2 billion, while the depth of poverty would be reduced for another 800,000.
The organisation says 109 more children a day are pulled into poverty by the policy.
The two-child limit denies child allowances in Universal Credit and tax credits to third or subsequent children born after April 2017.
An associated so-called “rape clause” grants exemptions for a child born as a result of “non-consensual conception”, which has remained highly controversial since it was put in place.
Due to the fact the two-child limit applies to third or subsequent children born after April 2017, it is effectively still being rolled out, with more and more children affected every day.
The number of children affected by the policy will continue to increase until 2035 when the first children born under the two-child limit turn 18.
The Scottish Government has vowed to end the policy north of the Border by April 2026.
Despite the eye-watering figures from CPAG, the Labour Government has chosen to hang on to the contentious policy despite it having been introduced by Tory chancellor George Osborne.
Keir Starmer has previously claimed scrapping the two-child cap is not a "silver bullet" for tackling child poverty, though he did call for it to be binned in 2020 as leader of the opposition.
CPAG argue the UK Government’s child poverty strategy will fall “flat on its face” unless the two-child limit is scrapped.
Alison Garnham, chief executive of CPAG, said: “The government’s child poverty strategy will fall flat on its face unless it scraps the two-child limit.
“Reducing the record high levels of child poverty in the UK will require a whole government effort, but abolishing the two-child limit is the essential first step.”
The UK Government’s child poverty strategy is due in June.
CPAG costed alternative social security changes and found that to lift the same number of children out of poverty via other interventions would require increasing the child element of Universal Credit by £17 a week, which would cost £3bn, or increasing the Universal Credit standard allowance by £25 a week, which would cost £8bn.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has also called on Labour to “assess the impact of welfare reforms introduced since 2010 on the most disadvantaged groups and take corrective measures, including reversing policies such as the two-child limit”.
