Child poverty
How to think about the two child rule...
In 2017 the government introduced the “two child” benefit rule: no benefits for third and subsequent children. Losses are typically £3200 a year, mainly Universal Credit entitlement. This applies to children born after 2017, so the number affected has risen over time. It is now 400,000, and will almost double in the next few years. By the end of this parliament, the majority of children in families with three or more children will grow up in poverty. Most of these have working parents. They are four times as likely to visit food banks as other families. The rule has barely cut birth rates in poorer families. Some don’t know of the rule, more commonly people are not on benefits at conception, but life changes for the worse. The Resolution Foundation estimates it costs £2.4bn to abolish the policy, rising by around 50% over time.
“If you can’t afford a child, don’t have one” polls well: 6 in 10 voters support it, 3 in 10 oppose it, and the remaining person is unsure. Support is high across the political spectrum, but particularly high among Conservative and Reform voters.
I was brought up poor, properly poor. I had free school meals. My unheated bedroom was cold enough that one winter my hamster hibernated. We only had hot water on a Saturday, and even then it only fed the bath. Otherwise we boiled a kettle on the hob. I have, as today’s young people say, the “lived experience” of child poverty. I can tell you, it is grim. My view is that…
