NEARLY 90,000 Scottish children are being affected by the Tory government’s two-child benefit cap, according to new data.
A campaign group told the Daily Record that axing the policy would help take 15,000 children out of poverty north of the Border.
The cap, announced by George Osborne (below) when he was chancellor limits Universal Credit and child tax credits to the first two children.
Earlier this year, Keir Starmer came in for criticism when he said his party would not reverse the policy should they come to power after the next General Election.
New data obtained by the End Child Poverty Coalition provides a local breakdown of the 87,000 children who are hit by the cap in Scotland.
Around 15,000 children in Glasgow are affected, while a further 5440 in Edinburgh are being hit by the policy.
The numbers in Aberdeen City and Highland are 2600 and 3400 respectively while North and South Lanarkshire’s figures sit at 6610 and 5100.
A further four Scottish council areas – Dundee, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire – have more than one in 10 children affected by the limit.
Despite Starmer’s comments earlier this year, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (below) demanded the cap be abolished.
John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group, said: “We wouldn’t deny a third child NHS care or an education – how can it be right to deny children financial support because of the number of brothers or sisters they have?
“The UK Government’s two-child limit is one of the most brutal policies of our times. All it does is push children into poverty and deeper poverty.”
He added: “It’s high time all Westminster party leaders committed to scrapping the policy before more children are harmed.
“In the meantime, we urge the Scottish Government to mitigate it through additional payments of the Scottish Child Payment before it does more damage to children and to family life.”
According to Scottish Government statistics, the Scottish Child Payment, worth £25 a week, is reaching more than 300,000 children.
Joseph Howes, chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition, said: “Imagine saying to a child who turned up at school – sorry you can’t gain access, we won’t fund your education – only your two older siblings qualify.
“Or turning a child away from hospital when they need treatment, as they are the third child in a family.
“Yet this is exactly what the unfair two-child limit to benefit payment does, it denies families the support they need, at a time when they need it the most.”
