Lifting the two-child benefit cap is a good start – but the government can go further

Labour’s Child Poverty Strategy, which Bridget Phillipson is to unveil in the Commons, will help lift 350,000 young people out of poverty – but there is much more that can be done to eradicate child poverty for good, says Laurie Lee

The Budget was a test of whether this government truly understands what keeps our nation healthy. For too long, political debate has treated health as something that starts and ends with the NHS. It does not. It begins in homes, workplaces, communities and in the everyday conditions that make it possible to live well and for longer.

While NHS wait times are too long, they are not the single root cause of ill health. We need to examine factors such as poverty, poor housing and insecure work. These are the reasons why too many families are forced to make impossible choices between eating and heating, or shift work and sleep, keeping them trapped in cycles of disadvantage.

The numbers are clear. Where you live determines how long you live. Across England, people in the most deprived parts of the country live about a decade less than those in the wealthiest areas. They also spend far more of those years in poor health. This gap is not inevitable. Rather, it is the product of policy decisions, of short-term thinking and of approaches that fail to see the whole picture.

At Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, we have worked in south London for more than five centuries. We collaborate with our local hospitals and councils, and we support Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. From years of doing this work, with our partners and in our communities, we know that healthier lives come from secure incomes, good housing, clean air and nutritious food. When those foundations are strong, people stay healthier and the NHS can focus on those who need it most.

That is why this Budget mattered. The government’s decision to remove the two-child limit on universal credit is a bold and welcome first step. This change will lift 350,000 children out of poverty – a transformative impact for those families. The government made other commitments that will help reduce the depth of poverty for many more, such as increasing the childcare cost cap in universal credit for larger families and providing simplified access to those benefits for parents.

These are significant commitments that deserve recognition. But we cannot ignore the scale of the challenge. While one in nine children will be helped by lifting the two-child limit, hundreds of thousands more are still trapped in deep poverty. That is why the forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy must go further and faster. It needs to be backed by clear targets that treat child poverty and ill health as defining national priorities, not intractable policy problems.

The government has a choice. It can continue to spend money on the consequences of poor health or it can invest in the causes of good health. One path leads to rising healthcare costs and deeper inequality. The other builds national resilience, productivity and fairness. If the government is serious about restoring confidence in public services and revitalising the economy, health must be central to that plan. The real test of political courage is in preventing illness, rather than treating it.

This Budget, and the Child Poverty Strategy announced in the Commons today, can be the moment the UK finally commits to building a fairer and healthier nation from the ground up. That means moving beyond sticking plasters and investing in the basic conditions that allow every person to live a healthy life. Anything less will leave us paying the price, not only in our hospitals but across every part of our society.

Laurie Lee is CEO of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation