The Scottish Government has announced plans to scrap Westminster’s ‘pernicious’ two-child cap on benefits.
Announcing Scotland’s Budget for the coming year yesterday, finance secretary Shona Robison said abolishing the cap would lift more than 15,000 of the nation’s youngsters out of poverty.
She pledged: ‘We will work as hard as possible in 2025 so we can start paying families as early as we can in 2026.
‘That is more than reasonable. But be in no doubt – the cap will be scrapped.’
The finance secretary stressed that the UK Government would need to cooperate, urging it to provide the relevant data from the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated that the plans would cost Scotland £250m a year, which it said would likely require tax rises or spending cuts elsewhere.
The two-child cap, which prevents parents on universal credit claiming benefit support for any third or subsequent children born after April 2027, has been branded the UK’s single biggest driver of child poverty by several charities and campaigners.
The principal policy adviser at charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Katie Schmuecker, said Scotland’s pledge to scrap the cap was ‘a positive recognition that this is a policy that increases poverty, leaving families cold and parents skipping meals to try to make budgets stretch’
‘Tough choices come down to priorities and UK Government ministers should pay close attention,’ she added.
Scotland's Budget documents also promised to progress plans to deliver fresh ‘revenue raising powers' for councils.
