How many children are affected?
👧1.6 million children. That’s 1 in 9 children.
👪Over 450,000 families.
👶And more than 2 in 3 affected families have a child under 5
💷 An end to the policy would lift at least 350,000 children out of poverty.
🤔Why is the UK Government uncertain about ending the policy?
When the two-child limit came into force in 2017, the Labour party said it was “an attack on low-income families” and would “increase child poverty”. The Labour Government have since seen the evidence that the policy has led to rising poverty. The Prime Minister recently said that he supports an end to the policy.
Unfortunately, there is also a perception that there is public support for the policy. Harmful stereotypes and stigma around receiving benefits have led to hostility around improving financial support for families. Sometimes, the media spreads misleading messages, like the idea that the policy only affects ‘irresponsible’ families, which isn’t true.
The Government would also need to decide how to fund the increased support for families, if they put an end to the policy. In the news recently, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown made the case that it could be funded by higher taxes on gambling, an industry that currently pays low tax.
📚Who supports ending the two-child limit?
Evidence and experts have shown the policy causes harm to children by pushing their families into hardship. An unequal start can cause lasting damage to a child’s health, development, and learning.
UNICEF UK, children’s charities, anti-poverty organisations and most political parties support ending the policy. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and other UN expert bodies have recommended ending the policy.
The Scottish government have already announced that from next year they will act to mitigate the policy in Scotland – topping up families' incomes to cover the amount lost to the policy. But we want to see change for children across the UK, and only the UK government can make decisions about benefits.
👩👧How would ending this policy affect child poverty?
Ending the policy would give families at least £3,514 more a year to help meet their children’s needs. This would lift 350,000 children out of poverty overnight, and would mean 700,000 children being in less deep poverty. It is the most cost-effective way to lift so many children out of poverty. Without an end to the policy, child poverty rates will continue to rise, and 4.8 million children could be poverty by 2030.
📜 How does the policy go against children’s rights?
The UK has committed to follow an international agreement on children’s rights - The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This means that the best interests of the child must be a top priority when governments make decisions that affect children.
The two-child limit policy was created a decade ago alongside many other austerity policies, with the main aim of cutting Government spending by reducing benefits payments. This aim does not prioritise the best interests of the child. The best interests of the child are to protect them from unnecessary poverty, not to say they shouldn't have been born.
Every child has the right to an adequate standard of living which meets their needs and supports their development. Rates of Universal Credit and other benefits have not kept up with rising costs, and often aren’t enough for families to cover basics like rent, bills and food. Cutting family incomes further with this policy pushes families into hardship and crisis, denying children their right to adequate living standards. Living in poverty can also have a negative impact on several other rights, such as the right to the best possible health.
What are the facts people might not be aware of?
There's been mixed messaging in the media and from political parties about the two-child limit. That means it can be hard to understand the reality of the policy.
💷The two-child limit is not about Child Benefit.
Child Benefit is paid to all families earning less than £80,000. Child Benefit is around £1,000 a year per child (lower for families earning over £60,000) and is intended to help with family costs. While first children get a higher rate of payment, Child Benefit is not capped at two children.
The two-child limit instead affects the ‘child element’ of Universal Credit, a benefit which only lower income families are entitled to, and only if they meet certain conditions. Rates of Universal Credit are often so low that families can’t afford the essentials, and the two-child limit cuts this further.
📉The policy doesn’t save money in the long run
Pushing families into hardship just shifts costs elsewhere. More poverty means more children end up needing help from the NHS, foodbanks and other local services. Growing up in poverty can also harm a child’s lifelong prospects, so they’re less likely to earn well in adulthood. Public spending on children is an investment in the future.
🌍The UK is an outlier with this policy
The UK is the only country which caps social security at two children. A UNICEF report in 2023 also found the UK to have the fastest rising rate of child poverty, out of 39 high-income EU and OECD countries.
🔮Families can’t predict the future, or turn back time
A parent cannot predict what their income will look like for the next 18 years, when having a child. Financial security can be lost at any time, meaning families need to claim Universal Credit to get by. Prices can rise quicker than incomes catch up. Parents can lose a job, become ill, or have a relationship breakdown. They can’t simply go back in time to only have two children.
Families need a benefits system that recognises the different challenges they face and that anyone’s circumstances can change unpredictably.
