End to two-child benefit cap offers £300-a-month lifeline to cash-strapped families

The two-child benefit policy has been described as a “cap on childhood” and as it comes to an end, Claire* hopes to throw a birthday party for her son.It is a celebration most children may take for granted, but Claire and her partner run out of money at the end of every month, skipping meals so that their three children can eat. Her son, now in his final year at primary school, has never had a party.The limit, which was introduced under the Conservatives in 2017 and allowed parents to claim universal credit (UC) or tax credits for their first two children only, was scrapped by the Labour government at the last budget.The decision means from 6 April low-income families could be entitled to a payment equal to about £300 a month for each additional child in the household. Families already on UC should get the extra money automatically.Claire’s story is one of many collected by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), which estimates 109 children have been pushed into poverty every day by the two-child policy as families cannot meet the costs of essentials.The cap is blamed for record levels of child poverty in the UK, with a rise of 900,000 since 2010 to 4.5 million. In 2025, an estimated 483,000 families were affected by the claim limit.Alison Garnham, CPAG’s chief executive, said children growing up in poverty had “worse health and education outcomes, lower life expectancy and reduced earnings as adults”. Abolishing the cap was a “critical first step in turning opportunities around for kids”.One mother of three told the charity she worked part time and her husband full time but they were still in debt from the pandemic. “The children have only been back at school two weeks and already I’m in debt for school dinners and for upcoming school trips,” she said. “If my child is the only child that doesn’t go then that will have an effect on him. Every month I do our budget to the last penny.”The UK government says removing the two-child limit is the ‘single most cost-effective measure available’ to drive down poverty rates. Photograph: Horst Friedrichs/AlamyAt a cost of £2.3bn in the coming year, the government said removing the policy was the “single most cost-effective measure available” to drive down poverty rates. The change would predominantly help working families – about 60% of households affected by the limit have a parent in work, and nearly half were not on UC when any of their children were born, it added.Claire’s eldest child has special needs and she stopped work owing to the support he needed. The extra payments for their third child – which add up to £3,650 a year – would help pay food bills, she said. Her son has outgrown his bed and two children need new mattresses but such things are “unaffordable”.Citizens Advice says it sees the “devastating effect this policy has had on families every day”. David Mendes da Costa, its head of policy, said lifting the limit would “mean the difference between falling into debt and being able to afford basics like food and school uniforms”.The charity said people who were entitled to more support could expect higher payments from May or June, depending on the date of their UC assessment period.However, the household benefit cap, which puts a ceiling on the total amount of benefits working-age households can receive at a maximum of £2,110.25 a month, or £1,835 outside London, means not everyone will see an increase.Dan Paskins, the executive director of UK impact at Save the Children UK, said: “For the past nine years, there has effectively been a cap on childhood as the two-child limit to benefits kept families poor and robbed children in larger families of the same opportunities as their peers. There is now more of a chance that incomes will match the real cost of raising a family, as well as better health outcomes for children, educational attainment and long-term job prospects.”*Names have been changed