The Government could immediately reduce the number of children growing up in poverty by an estimated 330,000 if it scrapped the two-child limit in full, according to a think tank.
Research from the Resolution Foundation, published in the briefing ‘No half measures’, found that fully repealing the policy would be the most effective single step to reverse rising child poverty and would prevent a further 150,000 children from falling into poverty by 2029-30.
While recent measures such as the uprating of universal credit and extension of free school meals are welcome, the foundation warns that under current policies child poverty is forecast to rise from 31% in 2024-25 to 34% by the end of the decade.
Partial reforms of the two-child rule, it argues, would fail to bring child poverty rates down, whereas full repeal could provide a meaningful downward trajectory—though it also notes that even this would still require additional supportive steps to make sustained progress.
Check out: Scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
