The UK’s newly elected Labor Party faces growing calls to abolish restrictions on benefits paid to parents that were imposed by the previous Conservative government.
UK governments have been providing financial help to cover the costs of raising children since 1946.
However, in recent years, payments to families have come under increasing pressure. In 2017, the Conservative government limited the number of children for whom families can claim benefits to two children.
Often said to hit the poorest in British society hardest, the two-child benefit cap has been a source of rancor for many politicians, public figures and anti-poverty campaigners.
There were high hopes that the center-left Labor Party would reverse the two-child benefit cap when it came to power.
However, Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Finance Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, have so far been reluctant to address the issue. While acknowledging the unacceptable extent of child poverty in the UK, they also cited the poor state of the UK’s finances and the cost of extending the benefits system.
What is the maximum benefit limit for two children?
In short, it limits state benefits – Universal Credit and child tax credits – to two children per family.
The two-child benefit cap was introduced by the Conservative government in April 2017 as part of a wider austerity program and applies to all children born after that date.
At the time of its introduction, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne argued that benefits paid to larger families were very expensive and the limit would “ensure that families receiving benefits face the same financial choices about having children as those who support themselves solely through work.”
There are some exceptions, such as rape, which activists argue means mothers have to endure the additional trauma of proving sexual assault to claim the benefits they are entitled to.
Writing in The Times newspaper on Saturday, Labor MP Rosie Duffield made explicit mention of the clause stating: “The authors of this policy are telling women: disclose to a series of strangers that your third child or any subsequent children are the result of rape and after all , we will pay you.
How did the maximum benefit limit for two children affect families?
Charities and anti-child poverty campaigners said the two-child limit on benefits has caused many hardships for families in the UK.
Lynn Perry, chief executive of children’s charity Barnardos, characterized the benefit cap as a “sibling penalty”, saying: “The majority of families receiving Universal Credit are in work and many are struggling for reasons outside their control. – such as family separation, the death of a partner or loss of a job.
“However, this policy denies families the support they need to pay for the basics, so they have enough to eat and can adequately heat their homes. Ultimately, children are paying the price, growing up in poverty and dealing with the consequences of this for the rest of their lives.”
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the policy costs low-income families an average of £4,300 ($5,550) a year, the equivalent of 10 percent of their income, in lost benefits.
Government statistics from last year show that half of those affected by the two-child limit were single-parent families. Furthermore, the same data showed that 57 percent of those affected already had at least one adult in paid employment.
The number of children affected by the limit is expected to increase, although the overall population is expected to decrease.
Last year, 1.6 million children – one in nine of all UK children – were affected by the cap. This number represents an increase of 100 thousand compared to the previous year, according to the IFS.
Furthermore, if the cap remains in place, a further 250,000 children will be affected next year, rising to an extra half a million by 2029, IFS data showed.
Compounding the difficulties faced by families affected by the two-child restriction is previous legislation limiting the overall amount of state payments to which families are entitled. Introduced in 2013, the benefit cap limits the amount of benefits most working-age families can receive if they work less than 16 hours per week.
Will the new government eliminate the limit?
The Labor Party, which won a landslide election victory on July 4, has long been divided over whether to maintain the two-child limit on family benefits.
Several party MPs and the party leader in Scotland’s devolved parliament, Anas Sarwar, have publicly called for the cap to be repealed.
Starmer has previously opposed the abolition of the cap, arguing that, given the country’s poor financial situation, he could not afford the estimated £3 billion ($3.87 billion) a year that abolishing the cap would cost.
Faced with the growing threat of a rebellion within his party over this issue, the prime minister indicated on Monday that he may be ready to abolish the cap.
However, expectations of any immediate policy change were dashed by Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary. Pointing to the government’s wider strategy to tackle child poverty, Kendall warned on Sky TV on Tuesday morning: “We will look at [removing the two-child benefit cap] as part of this strategy, but we must show, through any commitments, how we will finance them.”
Who else is calling for the two-child limit to be repealed?
In addition to a growing chorus of Labor voices, there is what appears to be a growing parliamentary bloc that supports abolishing the cap.
So far, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, as well as a large number of NGOs, anti-poverty campaigners and even former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman, known for her uncompromising right-wing views, have called for application of the maximum limit. to be discarded.
Speaking in May, former Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown criticized the policy, telling the BBC: “The tragedy is that we are now writing the future history of our country, neglecting the children we condemn to poverty and not being able to make a decent start. in life that they will fail in the future.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
