UK Government to consider major change to child benefit rules

The Government may "consider" abolishing the two-child benefit cap, according to a Cabinet minister. This comes amidst mounting pressure for the measure to be dropped.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson stated on Monday that it would be examined "as one of a number of ways" to alleviate child poverty.

This development occurs as Sir Keir Starmer potentially faces his first backbench rebellion over the benefit cap, which impacts approximately 1.6 million children. With child poverty on the rise, over four million children now live in low-income households and charities, opposition parties and even some of his own MPs are urging the Prime Minister to scrap the limit.

The SNP has proposed an amendment to the King's Speech demanding the cap's removal, and left-wing Labour MPs are expected to contribute further to the debate on Monday. Ms Phillipson revealed that the potential abolition of the limit will be considered by a new taskforce she is leading with Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, as part of a review of possible policies to reduce child poverty.

Speaking to Sky News, she said: "Too many young people in our country are growing up in poverty. That number increased massively under the Conservatives. There are a range of measures that we will need to consider in terms of how we respond to this," reports Bristol Live.

Discussing the possibility of scrapping the two-child benefit limit, she said: "Unfortunately it's also a very expensive measure, but we will need to consider it as one of a number of levers in terms of how we make sure we lift children out of poverty. Housing is a big factor... The fact that for lots of families work doesn't pay in the way that it should, and that increasingly what we see is that children are growing up in poverty where there is at least one person in that household in work.

"We will look at every measure in terms of how we can address this terrible blight that scars the life chances of too many children."

The government has indicated that the state of public finances currently prevents them from abolishing the benefit cap without first ensuring economic growth. The limit, which was put into effect by former Conservative chancellor George Osborne in 2015, limits child welfare payments to the first two children in most families.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has called on Scottish Labour MPs to support his party's amendment to abolish the cap, set for debate on Monday. The amendment reportedly has backing from ex-Labour leader and now Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn, as well as Green and Plaid Cymru MPs.

The decision to vote on the amendment rests with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Ahead of the debate, Mr Flynn commented: "The two-child cap was the Tories operating at their worst, so scrapping the cap would deliver on the promise made to the public for real change."

The discussion follows Labour MP Rosie Duffield's comments in a Sunday newspaper where she described the two-child benefit cap as "social cleansing" and an "anti-feminist and unequal piece of legislation".

"It legislates against women's autonomy over their own bodies, the exact opposite of anything that could possibly be described as a Labour Party value," she penned in an article for The Sunday Times.