The Chancellor described austerity as destructive but government is still rolling it out in the two-child limit which pulls 109 children into poverty every day. Struggling families won’t feel any renewal until the two-child limit – the biggest driver of rising child poverty – is scrapped and that must happen in the Autumn budget. National renewal doesn’t start with record child poverty.
This is fantastic news and a game-changer for children and families. At last more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space. We hope this is a sign of what’s to come in autumn’s child poverty strategy, with government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK.
Eleven major charities have today written to the Chancellor urging her to make a commitment in next week’s spending review to abolish the two-child limit and benefit cap in the Autumn Budget. The charities, including Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice, Save the Children UK, Trussell and The Children’s Society, work with children and low-income families. Their letter warns that the two-child limit has already pulled 37,000 children into poverty since the government took office.
The elephant in the room today was the two-child limit which is pushing child poverty to a new high on this government’s watch and leaving children without the life chances the Secretary of State wants for them.
Research published today shows there is overwhelming public support for government to take action on child poverty. In polling undertaken by Public First, 89% of those asked agreed that no child in the UK should live in poverty and 74% agreed that national government has a role to play in reducing child poverty.
Leading charities and organisations representing children and low-income families have written to the Prime Minister urging him to direct his personal leadership and the full weight of government into reducing child poverty. They warn that if the two-child limit is not scrapped in government’s forthcoming child poverty strategy, child poverty will be significantly higher at the end of this parliament than when the government took office – the first time a Labour government would have left such a legacy - and the number of children in poverty at its highest since records began.
