Axing the two-child benefit limit is only a partial answer to poverty, it’s claimed by a think-tank – worsening one of the biggest headaches of the new Labour government.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, axing the limit on Child Tax Credits and Universal Credit to just two children would lift 540,000 children out of absolute poverty – but 70,000 households would partially or totally lose any gains because they would then be affected by the benefit cap.
Scrapping the benefit cap as well would lift 620,000 children out of absolute poverty, but would cost the government £3.3 billion a year.
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People in absolute poverty are defined as earning below 60 per cent of the median income in 2010/11, uprated by inflation, and is used here rather than relative poverty, which covers a household below 60 per cent of the current median income after housing costs.
The current median income is lower than the median in 2010/11, uprated by inflation – which in itself tells you everything you need to know about the disastrous 14 years of Tory government the UK left behind in July.
Keir Starmer and his Labour government have said that they cannot end the two-child policy because of self-imposed spending rules that mean the economy has to grow first.
But this is putting the cart before the horse; if families are taken above the poverty line by the reversal of these policies, they will have more money to put into the economy, which will then grow.
The UK’s lowest-earning citizens always contribute the greatest proportion of the money they have to the economy because they need to do so in order to survive. The richest in society get to bank most of their income instead, meaning it contributes nothing.
The IFS has provided other options: scrapping the two-child limit alone would cost £1.7 billion a year initially, rising to £2.5 billion. Scrapping the benefit cap alone would cost £500 million a year.
The latest official figures, published in July, showed there were 1.6 million children living in UK households affected by the two-child limit as of April this year, up from 1.5 million as of April 2023.
There were a total of 123,000 households across England, Scotland and Wales who had their benefits capped as of May, government figures published in September showed.
Figures published in March showed the number of children living in poverty across the UK had hit a record high, at an estimated 4.33 million children in households in relative low income after housing costs, in the year to March 2023.
The figures also showed a rise for the second year in a row, with 600,000 more people, half of them children, living in absolute poverty – equivalent to 25 per cent (one quarter) of children.
Sadly, nothing will be done about this situation in the immediate future.
Instead, the government has set up a cross-government child poverty task force, which will publish its first strategy in spring 2025.
Until then – and probably for much longer after that – families that were impoverished by the Tories will continue to suffer under Labour.
Source: Axing two-child limit ‘most cost-effective move but no silver bullet on poverty’ | ITV News
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Axing the two-child benefit limit is only a partial answer to poverty, it’s claimed
Axing the two-child benefit limit is only a partial answer to poverty, it’s claimed by a think-tank – worsening one of the biggest headaches of the new Labour government.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, axing the limit on Child Tax Credits and Universal Credit to just two children would lift 540,000 children out of absolute poverty – but 70,000 households would partially or totally lose any gains because they would then be affected by the benefit cap.
Scrapping the benefit cap as well would lift 620,000 children out of absolute poverty, but would cost the government £3.3 billion a year.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
People in absolute poverty are defined as earning below 60 per cent of the median income in 2010/11, uprated by inflation, and is used here rather than relative poverty, which covers a household below 60 per cent of the current median income after housing costs.
The current median income is lower than the median in 2010/11, uprated by inflation – which in itself tells you everything you need to know about the disastrous 14 years of Tory government the UK left behind in July.
Keir Starmer and his Labour government have said that they cannot end the two-child policy because of self-imposed spending rules that mean the economy has to grow first.
But this is putting the cart before the horse; if families are taken above the poverty line by the reversal of these policies, they will have more money to put into the economy, which will then grow.
The UK’s lowest-earning citizens always contribute the greatest proportion of the money they have to the economy because they need to do so in order to survive. The richest in society get to bank most of their income instead, meaning it contributes nothing.
The IFS has provided other options: scrapping the two-child limit alone would cost £1.7 billion a year initially, rising to £2.5 billion. Scrapping the benefit cap alone would cost £500 million a year.
The latest official figures, published in July, showed there were 1.6 million children living in UK households affected by the two-child limit as of April this year, up from 1.5 million as of April 2023.
There were a total of 123,000 households across England, Scotland and Wales who had their benefits capped as of May, government figures published in September showed.
Figures published in March showed the number of children living in poverty across the UK had hit a record high, at an estimated 4.33 million children in households in relative low income after housing costs, in the year to March 2023.
The figures also showed a rise for the second year in a row, with 600,000 more people, half of them children, living in absolute poverty – equivalent to 25 per cent (one quarter) of children.
Sadly, nothing will be done about this situation in the immediate future.
Instead, the government has set up a cross-government child poverty task force, which will publish its first strategy in spring 2025.
Until then – and probably for much longer after that – families that were impoverished by the Tories will continue to suffer under Labour.
Source: Axing two-child limit ‘most cost-effective move but no silver bullet on poverty’ | ITV News
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Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
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And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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