End Child Poverty Coalition reacts to government data on the two child limit: ‘the government’s moral mission to end child poverty will fail if this policy remains’

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10th July 2025

For immediate release

Today the government published new data on the number of families impacted by the two-child limit to benefit payments. Shockingly this shows that 1 in 9 Children now live in a family whose income is reduced by this policy.

 

Beyond this headline figure this data release revels five further shocking statistics:

 

  1. 40% of households affected by the two-child limit policy had at least one claimant or child that claim health and disability benefits
  2. 3,670 women had to declare that they had been the victim of rape in order to gain an exemption to this policy
  3. 54% of all households impacted by this policy are single parents, yet for the UK as a whole 16% of families are single parents[1]. Women are more likely to be the head of a single parent family. Meaning this policy is hitting single women, with young children, who need help most.
  4. 59% of families impacted by this policy are working
  5. 8% of households affected by the two-child limit are also affected by the benefit cap. 141,290 children are living in these households

 

Joseph Howes, Chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition and CEO of Buttle UK said;

“The government’s ‘moral mission’ to end child poverty will fail if this policy remains. This new data shows that the number of children impacted by the two-child limit continues to rise. Now 1 in 9 children live in a home impacted by this cruel policy. No child poverty strategy will succeed in lifting kids out of poverty, if this policy remains – pulling their families back down.

“We have heard the government say that they are looking at all ‘the available levers’ to reduce child poverty. We all know that this is the lever that needs pulling first – backed up by the government’s own data released today, it’s time for the government to act.”

 

Katie aged 21 from Scotland who lives in a family impacted by the two-child limit said;

“All children matter and are meant to be valued equally. Yet for families like mine the government have decided that depending on your birth order – they will determine which child deserves to have support to lift them out of poverty. It makes me sad that we choose to abandon children, including my siblings, because of something they have no control over.”

 

The government committed in their manifesto, to developing an ‘ambitious’ plan to tackle child poverty – yet have not produced their strategy to do this. This is due for publication after the Autumn Budget. And recently Ministers have commented that tackling child poverty is a ‘moral’ mission of this government.[2]

 

The two-child limit to benefit deprives families who claim benefit payments of the child element of this, if their third child was born after April 2017. This amounts to £3514 per child per year. For every day the policy remains in place 109 children are pulled into poverty.[3]

 

The majority of families impacted by this policy are working families. Single parent families, most likely headed up by a women are over represented in the figures. We also know that families impacted will likely have babies and very young children, meaning it is often very hard for parents to increase working hours. Some women also have to disclose they have been raped in order to gain an exemption to this policy. This controversial ‘rape clause’ involves women disclosing extremely personal information to a professional who completes a form, which has to be shared with the Department for Work and Pensions. Women also cannot still be living with the rapist – which demonstrates a lack of coercive control on behalf of the government.

 

Research from this Coalition has shown there is a strong positive correlation between the percentage of children living in poverty, and the percentage of children impacted by the policy. Where you have high levels of child poverty, you have a higher proportion of families impacted by the policy.[4] If this policy were scraped it could also significantly impact local economies. Deprived areas especially could see a huge boost; Liverpool Riverside, ranked the most deprived constituency in England, could gain £5.2 million annually. Birmingham Ladywood, the fourth most deprived area could gain £16 million annually, and Bradford East – the ninth most deprived area could gain £11 million annually.[5]

 

Notes to editors

 

  1. A member of the coalition is available for further comment if required.
  2. The End Child Poverty coalition (www.endchildpoverty.org.uk) is made up of over 130 organisations from civic society including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others, united in our vision of a UK free of child poverty. These include Child Poverty Action Group, The Children’s Society, Buttle UK, Gingerbread, Oxfam GB, Action for Children, TUC, Save the Children, and the National Children’s Bureau.
  3. You can get in touch with the coalition by emailing rachel@endchildpoverty.org.uk or on 07918 567577.

[1] From https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2023

[2] From https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/27/bridget-phillipson-labour-two-child-benefit-limit

[3] From our Coalition partner Child Poverty Action Group: https://cpag.org.uk/news/spending-review-failed-commit-scrapping-two-child-limit

[4] See https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/child-poverty-2025/

[5] ‘At the Limit’ available https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/two_child_limit-2025/

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