Ending two-child cap 'could lift 600,000 out of poverty'

Scrapping the two-child benefit cap would lift 600,000 children out of poverty in the next five years, analysis has found.

- H O L LY B A N C R O F T

Researchers at Action for Children have warned that separate plans to boost parents’ income by getting them into better or new employment would “barely shift the dial” on child poverty.

Instead, Labour should take the bold move of scrapping the twochild benefit limit, which is “the single most cost-effective policy option the government could implement”, the charity argued.

They calculated the move would improve the lives of 600,000 children by 2030 at a cost of £3.9bn per year, compared to 150,000 children under measures to increase parents’ income in other ways.