Scrapping two-child benefit cap would save hundreds of infants' lives, study finds

Curbing child poverty by ending the two-child benefit cap would save lives and avoid thousands of admissions to hospital a year, an eye-opening new study has found.

Charities and experts have long called for an end to the policy, introduced by David Cameron’s Conservative government in 2015, which means families claiming benefits who have a third or subsequent child after April 2017 are denied more than £3,000 compared with families whose kids were born sooner.

Around 1.5 million children live in families whose benefits are reduced by the two-child limit, with an estimated 4.3 million children living in poverty across the UK.  

Researchers from the universities of Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow have now found that reducing child poverty levels – with measures like scrapping the two-child benefit limit, which is commonly referred to as the benefit cap – would have a “substantial” impact on child health in England. 

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health on Tuesday (6 August), found that tackling child poverty would see reductions in infant deaths and children in care, as well as admissions to A&E. Researchers found that parts of the north of England “exhibited the greatest relative and absolute benefit” from child poverty reductions.

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The study used local authority data to model reductions in child poverty across the UK, examining the impact that falls of 15%, 25% and 35% in child poverty could have. Researchers explained that these models would be “realistic in light of the 26% fall in prevalence previously observed in the UK between 1997 and 2010”.

All of the researchers’ scenarios resulted in “substantial improvements to child health” between now and 2033, with researchers adding that this would “likely translate into significant savings for, and relieve pressure on, local authorities (in relation to children looked after) and health services”.

The research found that if child poverty is reduced by 35% of 2023 levels, it would be “expected to result in avoiding a total of 293 infant deaths, 4,696 children entering care, 458 childhood admissions with nutritional anaemias and 32,650 childhood emergency admissions”.

The study specifically called out policies like the two-child benefit cap, stating that if “policymakers were to set and achieve child poverty targets for England… this would likely improve child health, particularly among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged and ‘level up’ regional inequalities.”

Labour’s promises on the two-child benefit cap

While Labour has been pressed to scrap the two-child benefits cap, the party has previously explained that it will not be prioritising ending the policy at the beginning of its term in parliament, with deputy prime minister Angela Rayner claiming “we can’t do everything all at once”. 

Campaigners criticised the government for not ending the policy during the government’s first King’s Speech in July, with Maggie Chapman, the Green Party’s social security spokesperson, calling the move “beyond disappointing”. 

The party did, however, pledge in its manifesto to take a number of steps to address child poverty, including introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school.

A government spokesperson told the Big Issue: “No child should be in poverty – that’s why our new cross-government taskforce will develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty and give children the best start in life. 

“Alongside this urgent work, we will roll out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools while delivering on our plan to grow the economy and make work pay for hardworking families in every part of the country.”

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