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.
Abolishing the two-child limit is, by far, the most cost-effective way of reducing child poverty, and if done this year will transform the lives of millions of children and families by the end of this parliament.
This briefing provides information on policies announced in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, alongside policy areas where opportunities to support children’s wellbeing were missed in this legislation.
Responding to the Scottish government’s decision to mitigate the effects of the two-child limit, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: 'The Scottish government has made the right decision but Westminster must now step up and scrap the two-child limit UK-wide.'
This short report looks at the challenges facing schools when implementing a means-tested school meal system, and the debt families are incurring for school meals in primary schools across England.
