How the two-child limit affected children and families - CPAG report

The Child Poverty Strategy published in 2025 brought an end to the two-child limit – the biggest single driver of child poverty in the UK, pushing over 100 children a day into hardship. 

This report examines the devastating impact the two-child limit has had on children and families through the words of affected parents and families. It looks at how, since its introduction in 2017, the two-child limit:

  • left families struggling to meet the cost of essentials like food, clothing and transport
  • trapped families in unsuitable and unaffordable housing
  • meant that children affected by the policy missed out on key childhood experiences like play, sports, clubs and socialising with their peers
  • meant that children experienced social exclusion due to the financial hardship caused by the policy
  • negatively affected children's education and learning
  • left families unable to provide specialist support for disabled children and those with special educational needs
  • adversely affected parents' health, mental health and parenting
  • meant that parents deprioritised their own needs to attempt to shield their children from poverty
  • had so great a financial impact that work was not enough to offset it
  • reduced families' ability to pay for childcare, which in turn limited their capacity to work

It also focuses on the future, looking at what parents who expect to receive the additional child element for children who were not previously eligible think the effect of that money will have on their children and family life.

Our research

The testimonials presented in this report are from parents affected by the two-child limit who responded to an online survey in the year to April 2026, and nineteen in-depth interviews with parents conducted in March 2026. The survey has received more than 4,580 responses since launching in 2018. 

We plan to speak to parents again about the impact they have felt now the two-child limit has been scrapped and share this in a later report this year.