End of two-child benefit cap moves one step closer

MPs have voted in favour of scrapping the cap on the number of children you can claim benefits for.

Since April 2017, parents have only been able to claim child tax credit or universal credit for a maximum of two children per household.

But in the recent Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the cap will be lifted from April 2026, which she believes will lift 450,000 children out of poverty.

This week, legislation on scrapping the limit took a crucial step forwards, with MP voting 458 to 104 in favour.

The proposed law will now be debated further by both MPs and peers in the House of Lords.

Government defends scrapping two-child benefit cap

Speaking in parliament, work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden criticised many of the arguments in favour of introducing the cap nine years ago, such as the possibility it could save money and encourage people to make different choices about how many children they have.

In fact, he argued that neither of these actually happened, saying: “No account was taken of the costs of the policy further down the line, such as lower educational attainment, worse mental health and lower earnings, perhaps for the whole of people’s working lives."

Furthermore, he pointed out that benefit claimants are not a “static group”.

“People’s circumstances change, marriages break up, spouses die and jobs can be lost,” Mr McFadden said.

“Around half of the families who will benefit from the lifting of the two-child limit were not on universal credit when they had any of their children.”

How has the two-child limit affected working parents?

The Child Poverty Action Group recently surveyed working parents affected by the two-child limit and found that in the last year, 93% had struggled to pay for food because of the policy.

This was followed by:

• clothing - 84%
• gas or electricity - 72%
• childcare - 49%
• travel - 44%
• rent or mortgage payments - 43% 

Find out what benefits you can claim

If you’re struggling to cover your day-to-day expenses, we can check you’re getting all the support you’re entitled to.

So get in touch or try our benefits calculator to see what support you could receive.