“As a single parent, I feel like I’m letting my kids down,” one mother of five affected by the two-child benefits limit, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian. She said she is on antidepressants and skipping meals.
About one in 10 children are affected by the two-child benefit limit, a policy introduced by George Osborne that prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017. Labour has now said it will keep this policy, which has been blamed for pushing families into poverty.
“I’ve had to cut down, I only eat once a day now,” the woman said. “I can’t eat two meals a day because I’m so used to it.”
She has five children, aged 19, 15, 13, eight and four. “The youngest one, I don’t get anything for her.”
She said the benefits cap has made her situation worse. “People don’t realise how bad the benefit cap is,” she said. “Even though four of my kids are eligible for the child tax credit, the benefit cap means I get the equivalent support for only two of them.
“I don’t think they realise how much of an effect it has on people’s mental health,” she added. “I am on antidepressants, with financial stress being one of the reasons.”
The two-child benefit cap was introduced as a way of encouraging parents back into work. “If I could work I would, but I only have two to three hours free,” she said. “Even then, I couldn’t afford to get childcare and with my mental state right now, I couldn’t work.”
Her children have also been affected. “I usually only take the youngest ones out. The older ones understand. The younger ones don’t know better but the older ones, it affects them more,” she said. “When they want or need something they have to wait. Luckily my kids are very understanding. When I tell them: ‘I haven’t got the money,’ they understand.”
She said she is not “totally” against the two-child limit. “I do think they need to look at cases separately. In my case, I had no choice but to get out of my relationship while I was pregnant.
“People do have accidents and you can fall pregnant … I don’t think they’re looking at the bigger picture.”
She said she has always voted Labour. “They try to look after people who are struggling and the Conservatives want to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, which they have done.”
She says she would vote Labour again despite its commitment to keeping the two-child benefits cap. “If all of them decided to keep the two-child limit, considering we’ve ended up here with the Conservatives, then I would still vote for Labour,” she said.
