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Will Cook, Reader in Policy Evaluation, Manchester Metropolitan University

Is there a strong economic case for dropping the two-child benefits cap? This is what the evidence tells us

Millions of British children live in poverty. Jun Huang/Shutterstock

As she carefully prepares the UK’s reaction to her second budget the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has now hinted that she may be ready to scrap the two-child benefits cap.

This controversial policy prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children (this is different to child benefit payments which are not limited by family size). According to the government’s own figures, the cap affects the households of 1.7 million children, and ditching it would cost upwards of £3.6 billion a year.

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