News

The benefit cap and the two-child limit has caused hardship to tens of thousands of families, with both policies failing to meet their original aims, according to the findings of a new study.

The harms of the cost of living crisis are multiplied by the benefit cap and two-child limit, flagship policies of the welfare reform agenda which sharply sever the relationship between need and support provided by our social security system.

A map showing the number of children living in households affected by the benefit cap between 2013 and 2023.

Our new briefing analyses how much families are left to live on after paying their housing costs if they are affected by the benefit cap.

Ten years since the benefit cap was introduced across Britain, new research shows families affected by the policy have as little as £44 a week to live on after they’ve paid housing costs.

Just over a third (34%) of people on universal credit who are subject to the benefit cap – which the Government claims incentivises work – are assessed by the DWP as not required to look for a job because they are caring for very young children, new FOI data for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows. A further 18% are already in work but don’t earn enough to reach the threshold for the cap to be lifted.

CPAG has responded to the government's consultation on the forthcoming Budget.

The benefit cap was introduced in 2013, and limits the total amount of support some low-earning and non-working families can receive from the social security system. What has been the impact of this policy? What will a recently announced change to the cap mean for families? And does this change go far enough?

The benefit cap has been in place since 2013, but what has its impact been when compared with its objectives? How does the rhetoric match up with the reality for the tens of thousands of families affected? And does the benefit cap have any place during a pandemic?

In August, Child Poverty Action Group and the Church of England published a report, Poverty in the Pandemic, which offered a glimpse into the lives of low-income families trying to survive the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This report provides an update on how families with children are managing financially, based on an additional 393 online survey responses received in the period since the last report was published, up to the end of November 2020.