Good morning. The two-child benefit cap has been described as “the worst social security policy ever”. It affects about 1.7 million children in the UK. Scrapping it would lift about 330,000 children out of poverty overnight, and another 150,000 by 2030. It has failed in its stated objectives: of supporting people into work, or discouraging them from having larger families. Keir Starmer himself was once committed to scrapping it. Still it clings on, driving 109 more children into poverty every day.
Ahead of the budget, pressure has been growing on Starmer and Rachel Reeves to make a change to reassure left-leaning voters that a Labour government can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Eliminating the two-child cap could have been that: only a few weeks ago, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the cap has had a “devastating impact”, which many understood as a sign the policy might soon be reversed.
