Labour urged to discard two-child benefit cap

The number of children affected by the two-child benefit cap will rise by a third over the next five years, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. The limit currently affects 2 million children, with more hit each year because it applies to those born after 5 April, 2017.

- SOPHIE WINGATE

Next year, 250,000 more children will be affected, rising to 670,000 before the end of the next parliament if the policy is not reformed, according to the think tank.

Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have in their general election manifestos vowed to scrap the Tory policy long-blamed for keeping children in poverty.

The cap, described as “cruel” by campaigners, was introduced in 2017 and restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

When fully rolled out, it will affect one in five children, rising to 38 per cent of those in the poorest fifth of households, the IFS research found.

It said that 43 per cent of children in households with at least one person of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin will be affected. Affected households on average will lose £4,300 per year, representing 10 per cent of their income, according to the analysis.