If the government’s long-awaited child poverty strategy, launched on Friday, was a bit of a damp squib, that is because the best bit had been absorbed by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in last month’s budget. The decision to remove the two-child limit, which prevented parents from claiming child-linked benefits for third or subsequent children, is expected to lift 550,000 children out of poverty by the end of this parliament. It is the best welfare decision taken by Labour since they were elected. Ms Reeves was correct to press the point that “potential suffocated by limited life chances” is a blight on society as well as on those who experience it directly.
No wonder that Labour ministers and MPs have sounded confident when talking about it. The Conservative decision to make larger families poorer was unjustifiable and damaging. Stories of children lacking the basics of sufficient food and secure housing have become shamefully common. With a record 4.5 million children in the UK in poverty, and 2 million in “deep material poverty” – in households that cannot afford the essentials of life – action was overdue. The Scottish government has already introduced new child payments, putting incomes there on a different trajectory.
The extension of free school meals in England is expected to lift about 100,000 more children out of poverty. But while none of the measures in the new strategy match this, or the removal of the two-child limit, for impact, the document still matters. First, because it is the clearest statement so far of Labour’s intent. Child poverty has fallen under every Labour prime minister since Harold Wilson in 1974. Under Conservative governments it has consistently risen. While the 2025 strategy lacks the ambition of Tony Blair’s pledge to eliminate child poverty entirely, it at least establishes that the current government’s commitment to poverty reduction is real.
Second, some significant measures will improve lives, even if they will not shift the headline figures. That 2,000 families with children are stuck in B&B accommodation is a stain on the nation. The £8m funding behind a pilot scheme to help councils rehouse them within six weeks is modest. But it is good to see the government commit to help local authorities tackle this issue. The shortage of social and affordable housing, and the problems this causes for families forced to rent privately, are one of the worst social injustices in this country. By doing something about it, ministers have shown that they are capable of listening. The same is true of changes making it easier for benefit claimants to pay for childcare.
Deep unfairness remains baked in to the benefits system. The overall cap that limits how much households can claim, and the frozen local housing allowance that lags behind rents, painfully restrict the incomes of millions of people. Now that the two-child limit is gone, attention can shift to these other areas. Polling shows that attitudes to benefits are complicated and changeable. Most people remain committed to a robust safety net. But public debate is warped by myths, such as the one that costs are spiralling or people are increasingly reluctant to work – when the truth is that spending on working-age benefits is stable, and nearly three-quarters of children in poverty have a parent in work.
Ministers must be bolder in challenging such narratives. Labour should be proud that the UK government once again has a child poverty strategy. Now it must build on it.
