An end to the two-child benefit limit: Our response

Comment from Patrick O’Dowd, our director, following today’s Budget…

When the Government was elected in July last year, they established a Child Poverty Taskforce to develop a strategy to tackle child poverty and reduce the number of children held back by growing up in poverty.

While we are still awaiting publication of the Child Poverty Strategy, expected in the coming weeks, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has today announced in the Budget that the two-child benefit limit will be lifted. 

For years, we have worked to highlight the urgent need for reforms to help people experiencing poverty and prevent even more children and families from being pulled into poverty. We’ve been engaging with decision-makers and advocating for the changes we believe are essential to addressing this crisis and enabling families to transform their lives with dignity. 

The key change we have been calling for is an end to the two-child limit – a policy introduced by the previous Government in 2017 that restricts financial support via Universal Credit to the first two children in a family. We know that this has been a major driver of child poverty. 

Therefore, we warmly welcome the lifting of the two-child benefit limit. This change will lift 350,000 children out of poverty immediately and mean that 700,000 more children are no longer living in such deep poverty.  

With more than one in three children in our area living in poverty, this will make a significant difference to many families we work with across Greater Manchester and Lancashire – increasing the income they have to provide for their children, and giving more children and young people the chance to fulfil their potential.  

In recent months, we have met with a number of local MPs to discuss this issue, and we are grateful that many took action to advocate for change on our behalf, including writing to Ministers and tabling Parliamentary Questions. This has meant that the experiences of people we support have been represented to the Government as they considered the way forward. 

We also want to thank all of you who have read and shared our work on child poverty and the two-child limit, everyone who has donated, and all who have signed pledge cards to stand with us in calling for an end to child poverty.

Your incredible support has shown that when we stand together and shout loudly for justice, change is possible. 

We celebrate this success, which we, alongside many other organisations, have long campaigned for. However, this cannot mark the end of investment in the social security system or reforms for children and families – it is just the beginning. 

It is essential that the benefit cap is also removed so that children and families in the deepest poverty are not left behind. Analysis shows that 140,000 children are affected by both the two-child limit and the benefit cap, and these children will sadly see no change to their circumstances even with today’s announcement. 

We also know that there are too many children continuing to go to school hungry but who are not eligible for free school meals, and that many remain trapped in unsuitable and unsafe temporary accommodation. We hope that the forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy will set out ambitious, long-term solutions to urgently tackle these injustices. 

Child poverty will not be eradicated by a single policy change or one Budget, so we will continue to campaign and call for change, until every person has the chance to transform their life with dignity.