Campaigners hail ‘transformational’ decision to scrap two-child benefit cap in Budget
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the scrapping of the controversial two-child benefits limit, effective from April, stating she would not "preside over a status quo that punishes children".
- The policy change is estimated to reduce child poverty by 450,000 by 2029-30 and will cost approximately £3 billion by the end of this Parliament.
- Reeves announced the removal of the limit would be fully funded through reforms to gambling taxes, tackling fraud in the welfare system, and cracking down on tax avoidance.
- The two-child limit, introduced by the Conservatives in 2015 and effective from 2017, restricted child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.
- The decision has been widely welcomed by anti-poverty campaigners and organisations, including the Child Poverty Action Group and Unicef UK, who described it as a "transformational" and "major, necessary decision".