Campaigners have made renewed calls to scrap the two-child benefit limit after the latest figures showed the number of children in affected households is approaching 1.7 million across Great Britain.
The new data will likely ramp up pressure on the Government to ditch the controversial policy, which came into effect eight years ago under the Conservatives.
But comments by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson at the weekend have raised concerns Labour might not do away with the policy, amid financial pressures following the recent U-turn on welfare reforms.
Ms Phillipson said spending decisions have been made “harder” after the watering down of reforms within the Universal Credit Bill.
There were 1,665,540 children living in households in England, Wales and Scotland affected by the two-child benefit limit in April, figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions on Thursday showed.
This was a rise of 37,150 (2%) from April last year.
There were a total of 469,780 households on Universal Credit affected by the policy – an increase of 13,520 (3%) from the total number of households affected in April 2024.
More than half (59%) of households affected by the policy are in work, the data showed.
A total of 275,820 households affected are in work while 193,960 households are out of work, the department said.
The Government is expected to publish a child poverty strategy in autumn, and a multitude of campaign groups have said it must contain a commitment to do away with the two-child benefit limit.
The limit restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households.
Organisations working in the sector argue that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day and that an estimated 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty immediately if it was scrapped.
Ms Phillipson has previously said ministers are “looking at every lever and we’ll continue to look at every lever to lift children out of poverty”, but the End Child Poverty Coalition insisted “this is the lever that needs pulling first”.
Its chairman Joseph Howes said the Government’s “‘moral mission’ to end child poverty will fail if this policy remains”, arguing that “no child poverty strategy will succeed in lifting kids out of poverty, if this policy remains”.
He added: “We have heard the Government say that they are looking at all ‘the available levers’ to reduce child poverty. We all know that this is the lever that needs pulling first – backed up by the Government’s own data released today. It’s time for the Government to act.”
The Liberal Democrats said the latest figures “should focus the minds of those in Government to scrap this policy and lift thousands out of poverty”.
Nigel Farage has vowed to scrap the cap if his Reform UK party comes to power, but the Conservatives have criticised such a move as unaffordable.
The latest data comes days after a report from the Children’s Commissioner told of some young people in England living in an “almost-Dickensian level of poverty”.
Lord John Bird, Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, said: “When we hear warnings of children in the 21st century living in Dickensian levels of poverty, we must call this what it is: a poverty crisis. And Government policy that creates this crisis cannot be tolerated.”
He said any savings the policy makes now will “create far more expense for our society now and down the line” with consequences likely to be felt in schools, the NHS, prisons “and one day, in the same social security system that fails these children”.
Lord Bird added: “It is both a moral and a political necessity that this Government ends the two-child benefit cap at the autumn budget. The public will not stomach any more inaction from Labour. They came to power promising an enduring reduction in child poverty and we must have legal targets to hold them to account.”
Barnardo’s said while recent Government announcements on the expansion of free school meals and the rollout of family hubs are welcome, “without immediate action, child poverty will simply continue to rise”.
The children’s charity described the upcoming child poverty strategy as “a huge opportunity for the Government to change the futures of millions of children, so they have the chance to thrive”.
Unicef UK described the figures as “shocking” and the policy as “cruel” as it echoed calls to urgently abolish the two-child limit.
A Government spokesperson said they are “determined to give all children the best possible start in life”.
They added: “The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year to ensure we deliver fully-funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the country.”
‘Will you shut up’: Farage’s anti-Macron speech drowned out by hecklers
Mapped: Where the third UK heatwave of the summer will hit
Latest Tory defection to Reform leaves only one question for Badenoch – ‘who’s next?’
Church of England considers holy communion options for gluten-intolerant
Man stabbed to death in central London’s Knightsbridge
Junk food sponsorship of sports should be banned, experts say
