THE Prime Minister’s “warm words” on reducing child poverty need to be backed by further action, including the end of the two-child benefit cap, Christian charities said this week.
In his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference on Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer said that the Government’s decision, announced in June, to extend free school meals to more than half a million additional pupils was the “first step” of the journey to end child poverty.
“We have walked that road before, and we will walk that road again. Because a Britain where no child is hungry, where no child is held back by poverty — that’s a Britain built for all,” he said.
But the director of policy, research, and impact at Trussell, Helen Barnard, said on Tuesday that “warm words don’t pay the bills or put food on the table. We need the UK Government to match its ambition with action by ending the cruel two-child limit. Families with children cannot afford any further delays.”
She said that the policy, which means that parents cannot claim Universal Credit or child tax credit for more than two children, was “the single biggest driver of child poverty, pushing millions of families into poverty and to the doors of foodbanks”.
A spokesperson for the Children’s Charities Coalition, which includes the Children’s Society, echoed this demand. “It is vital the Government scrap the two-child limit without delay. This is desperately needed for countless families across the UK struggling to provide their children with the everyday essentials of life,” they said.
“Growing up in poverty can have a devastating impact on children, affecting their health, their well-being and their future potential. Removing the two-child limit entirely would immediately benefit hundreds of thousands of children and be a huge step forward in tackling the shameful levels of child poverty in this country,” the spokesperson continued.
Church of England bishops have repeatedly called for the two-child limit — which was introduced by the previous Conservative government — to be scrapped (News, 24 May 2024).
After coming to power last year, the new Government faced a back-bench rebellion on the issue. As a result, seven MPs had the whip suspended.
The Government has said that the policy would be re-evaluated on the basis of the recommendations of a child-poverty task force. On Tuesday afternoon, The Guardian reported that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was set to lift the two-child cap in the autumn budget, based on the expected recommendation of the task force.