The two-child limit: our position

The two-child limit restricts support in universal credit to two children in a family. It leaves families without means-tested support for their third and subsequent children worth £3,514 a year. 

This tax on siblings is the biggest driver of rising child poverty in the UK today. It breaks the link between what children need and the support they receive. 

This is one family’s experience of the policy:

A working couple with three children has their universal credit reduced by the two-child limit. Their income is very tight. During a period when the father was out of work due to ill health, the family was not able to get a cake or any presents for their youngest child’s birthday. They hoped the child would be too young to remember.

Here in the UK, we believe that every child should have the best start in life. This means access to free health care, a good education, and a childhood free from poverty. We wouldn’t turn away a sick child from our hospitals or stop them going to school. But the two-child limit denies families the support they need from our social security system when they experience tough times - trapping kids in poverty.

We need to help children thrive, by supporting parents to raise happy, healthy children – especially during the first years of a child’s life, when foundations are laid for their future development. 

It’s right to support families when they need it most. Our government should lift the two-child limit and help all children thrive. 

Please note that the two-child limit is different from the benefit cap. Lifting the two-child limit and the benefit cap will immediately lift 400,000 children out of poverty, and 950,000 children will be living in less deep poverty.