The government recently published its review of the options for reducing inequalities in the first years of a child’s life. It is a very welcome review with plenty of good proposals. However, one of the key ways to ensure babies and children thrive is to ensure families have enough money to meet their needs. And the government has a policy that completely undermines this aim: the two-child limit.
The two-child limit restricts support in universal credit and tax credits to the first two children in a family, with few exceptions. It was brought in on April 6, 2017 and affects third or subsequent children born after this date, with the argument that people should make decisions about how many children they can afford to have.
But who among us can guarantee our financial security for the next 18 years when we decide to have children? The pandemic has highlighted how events beyond our control can upend our lives and finances, but there are crises on a more personal scale affecting families in non-pandemic times, from job losses to family separations and bereavements. Our social security system should be there to support families through these times. This view is supported by two thirds of the UK population who agree that the two-child limit should be suspended or lifted altogether, according to a recent poll by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.
The first children affected by the policy are turning four this week, although of course all children in the family are affected. New modelling suggests that 1.25 million children have now been hit by the policy, including 50,000 who have been affected because of the economic hardship caused by the pandemic. It is one of the most significant drivers of child poverty.
The government’s own data shows that 70 per cent of the increase in child poverty we saw in 2019-20 was among families with three or more children, and that more than half of families living in poverty have a child under five years old. When fully rolled out, up to half a million children will have been pushed into poverty because of the two-child limit. Pre-pandemic, 57 per cent of families affected were in work.
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We have heard from families that the two-child limit is forcing them to cut back on basic items, including adequate or healthy food, clothes and baby equipment. In order to get by, many families report getting into problem debt and rent arrears. Parents try to shield their children by cutting spending on themselves at the expense of their own mental health and relationships, sometimes pushing families to breaking point.
Despite parents’ best efforts, it is clear that this policy is adversely affecting their children’s well-being and development. Fundamentally, poverty affects children’s ability to thrive. Children growing up in poverty do less well in school and poorer children are more likely to have poorer mental and physical health.
Here in the UK, we believe that every child should have the best start in life. The government’s own ambition is that “babies and children in England will get a better start in life”. But this policy denies families the financial support they need from our social security system when they experience tough times, leading to children growing up in hardship. Our government must now lift the two-child limit and help all children thrive.
Alison Garnham is chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group; the Right Rev Paul Butler is Bishop of Durham