Women lose court case over 'rape clause' in two-child benefit cap rule

Two women who conceived their eldest children while they were in violent and controlling relationships have lost a legal challenge to the rules around the two-child benefit limit.

- Mark Brown

A high court judge said the accounts of the abuse the women faced when they were "vulnerable girls barely out of childhood" were "chilling". But in a judgment delivered yesterday, Justice Collins Rice said it was for politicians to settle the matter, not the courts.

The women, and campaigners who support them, said they were disappointed but would fight on to have universal credit rules changed.

The two women, identified only as LMN and EFG, launched a challenge to the rules around the so-called "rape clause" in universal credit claims at a court in Leeds in June.