One in 12 UK children now in families hit by two-child benefit limit
One in 12 of all UK children now live in families hit by the two-child limit, the government’s controversial cap on benefits that cuts household income by at least £2,800 a year and puts affected youngsters at risk of poverty and emotional harm.
The latest official statistics revealed that 1.3 million children in 359,000 households were subject to the two-child limit in April as the policy dragged an additional 150,000 kids in 40,000 families into its net.
New research into the impact on affected children found they suffered social and emotional harms as a result of their parents finding it almost impossible to afford basic needs, from food and nappies and new shoes to buying birthday presents for friends.
The study by York and Oxford academics found the continuation of the policy during the cost of living crisis was “creating an almost impossible context for affected families, with a risk of long-lasting harm for millions of children”.
Asked about cost of living pressures, Asma, a mother interviewed as part of the Benefit Changes and Larger Families project, said: “If anything, I think it is about to get worse … things are going up so high … so you know, that is worrying … I don’t think there is any hope at the moment.”
A briefing by the project said: “We hear a great deal of the heat-or-eat dilemma that households in poverty routinely face. Families affected by the benefit cap and two-child limit also told us about the stressful and difficult decisions they face choosing which of their children’s basic needs to meet.”
The new figures were published as the government started to issue the first tranche of a one-off, flat rate £650 payment to around 8 million low-income UK families to help them cope with the rising cost of
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