The two-child limit for UK benefits is now affecting 1.5 million children, with more than a million of them growing up in poverty, a campaign group has said in a report into what it termed “this nastiest of policies”.
The cumulative impact of the limit, which means that parents cannot claim child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017, meant it could eventually affect about 3 million children, with families losing out on up to £3,235 a year, the study found.
The report into the scheme, six years after it began, carried out by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and supported by the Church of England among others, said the impact had been exacerbated further by the wider cost of living crisis.
Submissions from 3,000-plus parents who have taken part in an ongoing CPAG survey about the two-child limit found that in the last year many more families had struggled to pay for power bills and food.
Individual testimonies from some of those affected include parents missing meals, children unable to join school clubs and outings, and women who feel forced to return to work when their babies are only a few months old.
One woman said she very rarely bathed or read bedtime stories to her three- and four-year-old children because her local supermarket tended to discount food at 7pm. “It’s a treat if Mummy is doing it, because usually Mummy’s gone shopping,” she said. “It’s hard and it’s horrible.”
While ministers bill the limit as a fair way to ensure people take financial responsibility for their family decisions, CPAG said there was no evidence it had affected fertility rates, and that it simply pushed huge numbers of children into poverty, something which has been shown to affect long-term life chances.
Abolishing the limit would cost £1.3bn a year, the report said, and would lift 250,000 children out of poverty, with a further 850,000 in less deep poverty.
According to CPAG’s calculations, the limit now hits 1.5 million children, 1.1 million of whom are in poverty, with 58% of families affected having someone in work.
The group’s survey showed that of working families affected by the policy, 87% said it made it harder for them to pay for food during 2022-23, up from 78% a year before.
The rate for non-working households is 90%. For all affected families, the proportion struggling with gas and electricity bills rose from 73% to 82%, despite the government’s intervention to limit bills.
The two-child limit has been a controversial policy because of its impact on poverty rates, but also because of the so-called rape clause, under which women can claim social security for a third or later child but only if they can demonstrate the child was conceived via rape.
Alison Garnham, CPAG’s chief executive, said: “Six years to the day since this nastiest of policies came into effect, our survey is showing its devastating effects. The two-child limit makes it impossible for parents to provide their children with essentials – and the cost of living crisis is adding extra pain.
“The number of children in poverty rose by 350,000 last year – and the two-child limit played a big part in that rise. There is no place for this policy in a country that believes all children deserve a good start. Ministers must remove it before it does more damage to children and to family life.”
A government spokesperson said the policy “means families on benefits are asked to make the same financial decisions as families supporting themselves solely through work”, adding that there were “careful exemptions and safeguards” to protect those in the most vulnerable circumstances.
