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.'
Two mothers who had children as a result of rape or coercion by former partners have been given permission by the High Court to proceed with a legal challenge against the rules on exceptions to the two-child limit in universal credit (UC).
The Chancellor brought good news on breakfast clubs and universal credit deductions but this was not a Budget of bold action on child poverty. The Chancellor missed a golden chance to scrap the two-child limit, a policy that will pull 16,000 extra children into poverty by the time the government’s child poverty taskforce reports in spring.
We welcome the government’s ambition on child poverty but this budget played for time that far too many children and families can’t afford. The spending review next spring will have to deliver much more to make a significant difference for children in poverty.
As MPs return to Parliament today, new analysis from Child Poverty Action Group shows 10,000 children have been pulled into poverty by the two-child limit since the government took office. That’s 109 children each day since July 5th.
Breakfast clubs are a welcome start but meeting Labour’s ambition to end child poverty will need much more from this government. And even with a pledge of no return to the past, austerity is the reality for more and more children as they’re hit by the two-child limit. The policy must be scrapped – and soon - if the Government is to deliver on its mission to reduce child poverty.
