Reversing two-child benefit cap would help reduce poverty - IFS

AXING the two-child benefit cap would be one of most cost-effective ways of reducing child poverty, a think tank has claimed ahead of a Budget in which the Chancellor is widely expected to announce changes to the limit.

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‘The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) also laid out ways Rachel Reeves could partially reverse the cap to avoid the cost of fully removing it and said the certain groups could be prioritised.

She has faced increasing calls to lift the cap, which was introduced under the Conservatives in 2017 and restricts universal or child tax credit to the first two children in most households.

A full reversal would cost around £3.6 billion and lift some 630,000 children out of poverty, the IFS estimates.