Scrapping 'cruel, inhumane' two-child cap will lift 450,000 out of poverty
An announcement in the autumn budget that the two child benefit cap is to be removed was welcomed by BASW.
The policy has been blamed for pushing hundreds of thousands of children into poverty since it was introduced by the Conservatives in 2017.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has described the cap as “the biggest driver of rising child poverty in the UK today”.
The policy places a benefit limit on families having more than two children, meaning they lose £3,514 a year for every subsequent child.
Some 1.4 million children have been affected, with families hit particularly hard in recent years due to rising cost of living. The cap will be removed from next April at a cost of £2.3 billion in the next financial year and £3 billion in 2029/30.
However, CPAG estimates the cost to the economy of the cap to be around £40 billion a year in terms of greater risk of unemployment, lower earnings and public services.
Removal of the “cruel, inhumane” cap was a key ask in BASW’s manifesto ahead of the general election.
Interim chief executive Sam Baron said: “It is fantastic that the government has recognised that the two-child limit has impoverished families who simply do not have enough money.
“Being a parent is tough, being a parent in poverty is harder. We have long known that declining living standards is a driver of social work intervention, and that children growing up in poverty are unfairly denied the best possible start in life.
“Scrapping this damaging and punitive policy will lift thousands of children out of hardship and make a massive difference to countless families across the UK who desperately need more help.”
In her autumn budget statement chancellor Rachel Reeves said the policy “pushes more kids into poverty than any other”.
She said it had failed in its intent and “made almost no difference to the size of families”. Speaking on BBC's Today programme on Radio 4 the next day, Reeves highlighted the impact of poverty on families, describing children hospitalised because of respiratory problems due to damp, poorly heated homes and turning up to school hungry because parents can't afford to feed them.
"This is an investment in children, giving them a good start in life but it is also an investment in public services that have to pick up the pieces of a country that does not value its children properly," she said.
The government claims removal of the cap will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to 550,000 alongside other measures such as the expansion of free school meals.
Alison Garnham, chief executive of CPAG, said: “Scrapping the two-child limit will be transformational for children. This is a much-needed fresh start in our country’s efforts to eradicate child poverty and while there is more to do it gives us strong foundations to build on.
“Every child deserves the best start in life and with today’s decision government has done the right thing.”
Children’s charity Barnardo’s described it as a “landmark moment” while food bank charity the Trussell Trust said it would “protect hundreds of thousands of children from growing up facing hunger and hardship”.