Parents pushed to the brink by two-child benefit limit as pressure mounts to scrap it

The number of children in working families hit by the two-child limit will reach a million next month as campaigners warn parents are being pushed to the brink.

Analysis by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) of DWP statistics found 59% of families affected by the two-child limit are working and a large majority of those who are not, are not required to because they have very young children or are ill or disabled.

A lone parent with three children who works full-time for the minimum wage is currently £4,500 a year under the poverty line if affected by the two-child limit. If the policy were scrapped, they would be £1,000 a year under the line.

A three-child couple hit by the two-child limit with one parent working full-time and the other part-time for the minimum wage, is currently £2,000 under the poverty line. Without the policy in place, this family would be £1,500 above the line.

It comes as the Government faces pressure to scrap the Tory policy in the upcoming child poverty strategy.

Abolishing the two-child limit is widely recognised as the most cost-effective way of reducing child poverty.

CPAG said scrapping the Tory-era policy would lift 350,000 children over the poverty line and reduce the depth of poverty for many more, at a cost of £2billion.

CPAG Chief executive Alison Garnham said: “The two-child limit has parents dancing on a pin - trying to work as much as they can, raise their children, and pay the bills - but the sums don’t add up.

“These are the families that work in our schools, our hospitals, our job centres and services and the strain of the two-child limit on them is intolerable.

“Government must commit to scrapping the policy in its forthcoming child poverty strategy or there will be more children in poverty at the end of this parliament than when it took office.”

A Government spokeswoman said: “Every child, no matter their background, deserves the best start in life. That’s why our Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

“We are investing £500million in children’s development through the rollout of Best Start Family Hubs, extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest don’t go hungry in the holidays through a new £1billion crisis support package.”

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