1 million children in working families now hit by two-child limit

• Workers testify to impact of policy: "I’m a taxpayer and my children will grow up and pay tax but when they need support now, they’re deserted"
• Analysis shows poverty-reductions for workers if policy scrapped
• Parents ask government to ‘put itself in our shoes’

New analysis from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows next month the number of children in working families hit by the two-child limit will reach 1 million. The analysis also shows the extent to which poverty would be reduced for workers in different family types if the two-child limit were scrapped. 

A lone parent with three children who works full-time for the minimum wage is currently £4,500 a year under the poverty line if affected by the two-child limit. If the policy were scrapped, that worker would be £1,000 a year under the line. 

A three-child couple hit by the two-child limit with one parent working full-time and the other part-time for the minimum wage, is currently £2,000 under the poverty line. Without the policy in place, this family would be £1,500 above the line.

Even on median earnings, a lone parent with three children, working full-time is currently under the poverty line – by £500 – if she’s hit by the two-child limit. If the policy went, she’d be £3,000 above the line.

DWP statistics show 59% of families affected by the two-child limit are working and a large majority of those who are not, are not required to because they have very young children or are ill or disabled. The majority of families affected by the policy have three children. 

Of 148 working parents affected by the two-child limit who responded to a CPAG rolling survey in the past year, 93% said the policy meant they struggle to pay for food, 84% said it affected their ability to pay for clothing, 72% for gas or electricity, 49% for childcare, 44% for travel and 43% for rent or mortgage.

Chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said:

"The two-child limit has parents dancing on a pin - trying to work as much as they can, raise their children, and pay the bills - but the sums don’t add up. These are the families that work in our schools, our hospitals, our job centres and services and the strain of the two-child limit on them is intolerable. Government must commit to scrapping the policy in its forthcoming child poverty strategy or there will be more children in poverty at the end of this parliament than when it took office."

Abolishing the two-child limit is widely recognised as the most cost-effective way of reducing child poverty, instantly lifting 350,000 children over the poverty line and reducing the depth of poverty for many more, at a cost of £2 billion.

Parent testimonies:

One mother had to leave her full-time job supporting adults with learning difficulties in order to care for her autistic son. Her husband works full time as a learning support assistant in a school. Under the two-child limit the family does not receive universal credit (UC) support for their third (and youngest) child. 

She says: 

"The two-child limit is the difference between us being in debt and not. We have utilities debt and at the end of the month have to use credit cards just to keep living. 

"I’ve had to cancel one son’s gymnastics classes and replaced the other son’s violin lessons with a lower quality version and we eat more convenience foods that I’d like. At times my partner and I have gone without a meal so that the children can eat. 

"I didn’t expect to be on Universal Credit. No one would want to be, and I don’t plan to be on benefits for ever. But nobody knows what’s going to happen to them. 

"Two bills I received yesterday wiped out my account and although we’d planned to take the children to a museum as a treat on the last day of the school holiday, I had to cancel it because we didn’t even have money for the fare to get there. 

"Family is so important to me. I shield my children from the fact that we don’t have enough money to do things because I don’t want them to have the mindset that they are poor. I want them to believe that they can do anything in their lives but it gets harder to shield them as they get older because they’re more aware."

Another mother works in a local authority setting supporting children who have left care and does a shift of 20 continuous hours each week. This means she barely sees her four children and husband for the best part of two days each week. Her husband works 60 hours a week as a lorry driver. The family does not get UC support for their youngest because of the two-child limit. The couple’s work patterns mean they save on childcare but, the mother told CPAG:

"I don’t see my husband and I don’t see my children for the best part of two days. It’s a strain on the marriage and on the family.

"We can’t do family days out and my two youngest can’t do afterschool clubs. When it’s deciding on the two-child limit, the government needs to put itself in our shoes and try to live on our weekly budget with four children."

Another mother has a partner working full time as a security guard in a job centre for the minimum wage. The family does not receive universal credit support for their youngest (and third) child because of the two-child limit. The DWP has designated this mother as having limited capability for work because of health problems. 

She says:

"We’ve been really struggling and although we’re starting to get out of debt, there are times when I don’t eat so I can feed the children. I do my best to put healthy food on the table but it’s not always possible and occasionally we’ve had to use a foodbank. I never have a haircut because I just can’t afford it.

"Telling the children that they can’t have ordinary treats is hard - when you’re out for a walk and they see an ice cream van – you just have to be strong and say no.

"It doesn’t feel fair that just because your child was born after a certain date, there isn’t support for her and you have to spread the support over all three children.”

A single parent to six children works part-time as a nurse. She struggles financially without the UC child element for her four youngest children.

She says:

"I have to buy things on credit and the children can’t do the clubs they want to do. The policy is punishing children – that’s what’s wrong with it. 

"I’m a taxpayer and my children will grow up and pay tax - the country expects them to - but when they need support now, there’s no help for them - they’ve been deserted."

She wants to move to a higher band in nursing but can’t afford the childcare she needs to work the extra hours that would make this possible.

"I love my job and would like to move to a higher band but childcare costs mean I’m almost stagnant. My colleagues are moving up into higher bands. If the two-child limit didn’t exist, I could pay for the childcare I need in order to work more and earn more in the NHS."

A third-year nursing student in Scotland has three children, the youngest of whom does not receive UC support because of the two-child limit. She shares care of her two eldest with her ex-partner. 

She receives a bursary and says the Scottish Child Payment (£330 per month) is a lifesaver - "I wouldn’t be able to train as a nurse without it – one hundred per cent!"

She has had to use food banks.

"More than a few times I’ve thought about giving up the training because of the financial stress. I went to my university and said ‘I’m just going to have to pull out’ and they helped with some emergency funding’. 

"The government needs to look at the bigger picture because the system is truly unfair, especially for hard-working, motivated people like myself who are trying to better their lives and provide the country with another nurse, when so many are leaving!"

Another single parent has a baby under one and two children in primary school. The two-child limit means she doesn’t get the child element of UC for her youngest. 

She's a self-employed beauty therapist. She says:

"I previously ran a business for five years and desperately want to be off benefits because it’s very, very hard to manage financially. I’m living day to day.

"The jobcentre says to me ‘you don’t need to work until your youngest is 2’ but I’m trying to set up my own business and I’m keeping some clients going as much as I can. After the premises is paid for, currently I only break even, but if I build the client base, when my youngest is 15 months and in nursery I can work a few days a week and when she’s in school the business will be there and I’ll work full-time.

"I’m trying to work but feel like the government isn’t helping. Lifting the two-child limit would make a big difference because it would just ease the financial depression that we’re in."

Notes to editors:

*The latest official statistics show that in April 2025, 940,000 children were living in working families not receiving a child element of universal credit because of the two-child limit. This works out as 120,000 a year. This means in October 2025 an estimated 1,000,000 children in working families will be hit by the two-child limit.

The two-child limit prevents families from receiving support through Universal Credit towards the cost of the third or additional children born since 6 April 2017. Affected families lose out on up to £293 per month.

A record 4.5 million UK children are living in poverty.

CPAG’s rolling online survey is facilitated by the Entitledto benefits calculator. Users of the calculator who are likely to be subject to the two-child limit are invited to participate in the survey to provide feedback on the impact of the policy.

CPAG media contact: Jane Ahrends 07816 909302