Government policy punishing families must end now
Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at Trussell says the cruel two-child limit policy is punishing families and must be scrapped.
Families have faced unprecedented challenges over the last five years – from the cost of living crisis to the pandemic. But for families with more than two children these challenges have been magnified by the impact of the cruel two-child limit on social security.
The two-child limit, which restricts support from the social security system to just two children, even when their parents can’t work, is punishing children for their existence and forcing families to food banks. We cannot stand by while this continues to happen.
Every week, food banks in the Trussell community support parents who’ve been doing everything they can to protect their children from hunger. Skipping meals for weeks so there’s enough for the kids to eat, making games out of wrapping up in blankets to avoid turning on the heating, trying to pretend everything’s okay – but it’s not okay. The two-child limit is the single biggest driver of child poverty, pushing millions of families into deeper hardship, blighting childhoods and holding children back from having a good start in life.
To end it is morally the right thing to do – no child should know what a food bank is, let alone need one. Families with babies, and children as young as 2 or 3, being pushed to food banks should weigh heavily on our society’s conscience.
Families with children cannot afford any further delays, and as a society we cannot keep pushing the next generation towards food banks before they’re even old enough for school.
Scrapping this harmful policy in full, as soon as possible, is good for us all – our research shows it would ease pressure on public services and benefit our economy by over £3 billion and lift 670,000 people out of severe hardship, including 470,000 children, by 2026-27.
There is no time to lose.
Removing the two-child limit in the autumn budget is the most effective way to protect children from hunger, give them a decent start in life, and help them reach their potential.
There is no time to waste in a child’s life. Each day that a child spends living in poverty is a day where their potential is stunted where it shouldn’t be.
It is the government’s duty to act on their commitment to tackling child poverty, a promise they made to all of us on the election trail. We expect them to keep this promise.
The most immediate and impactful way they can do this is to fully remove the two-child limit now – so if you believe that all children should have the opportunity to live their childhood free of poverty, then email your MP today.
