Over 100 Parliamentarians have signed a letter urging PM Theresa May, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond MP and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey MP, to reconsider the two-child limit policy.

Since coming into effect last April, the two-child limit policy has affected an estimated 400,000 children and will eventually affect around 3 million children once the transitionary protection runs out. Each of these families will be £4,000 a year worse off, on average, than in the absence of the policy.

The Parliamentarians want to stop the policy being extended to all new Universal Credit claimants from February next year. They believe it is particularly unfair, because it will affect many families who had their children before this policy came into effect and that this policy will lead to a sharp rise in child poverty.

In the letter, the Parliamentarians say:  

“The two-child limit makes it harder for working families with more than two children to work their way out of poverty, however hard they try to improve their situation. Furthermore, many non-working families will no longer be able to escape the impact of the benefit cap by moving into employment, because they would instead be caught by the two-child limit.”

 “The complex rules for applying the two-child limit, including the lengthening list of exemptions, undermine the aim of making the benefits system simpler to understand and easier to administer.”

 The full letter is below.

- ENDS –

Notes to Editors: 
1) For further information or comment please contact Rushanara Ali MP’s Office on 020 7219 7200 or email [email protected] 

2) You can find more information on Rushanara’s work in Parliament here