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Snapshot 7:Mon, Apr 6, 2026 7:58:13 PM GMT last edited by Anna-Lisa

UK Scraps Two-Child Benefit Cap

UK Scraps Two-Child Benefit Cap

Is scrapping the two-child benefit cap a lifeline for 450,000 children or a fiscally reckless £3.5 billion burden on working families?
UK Scraps Two-Child Benefit Cap
Above: Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson visits the Great North Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne on April 6. Image credit: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The Spin

The two-child cap has been the single largest driver of rising child poverty over the last decade, condemning 300,000hundreds of thousands of kids to hunger and hardship through no fault of their own. Lifting it delivers the biggest reduction in child poverty over a single Parliament since records began, pulling 450,000 children out of destitution and giving them a real chance at life.

Scrapping the two-child cap hands workless households a £3,647 annual windfall for every child they have, while working families face "Awful April" tax hikes on everything from council tax to water bills. With the welfare bill already ballooning toward £407 billion, it is beyond fiscally reckless of the government to pile on a further £3.5 billion in additional benefits spending.

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 3% chance that the U.S., U.K., China, or any of the countries in the EU will enact a universal basic income before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.



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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.18.0

© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0