A common refrain over the years is that parents, particularly of larger families, need to work harder or longer hours to finance their own lifestyle. Such ‘encouragement’ came from former Chancellor George Osborne during the ‘austerity’ years. The ‘benefit cap‘ introduced in 2013 limited the total amount of state benefits a family could receive. A second policy prevented parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
These policies were significant because they broke the link between assessed need and entitlement to support.
The political background
During the time of the Coalition government there were many emotive headlines from the Daily Mail stoking public outrage at a ‘benefit bonanza‘, excessive housing benefits, and locations dubbed ‘benefit capitals‘. Claims were made that scores of workless families with ten or more children were living on state benefits worth more than £60,000 a year.
In 2013 Iain Duncan Smith, then Work & Pensions Secretary, said “people who are on benefits should not be earning more than those, for example, on average earnings.” The Daily Mail reported that a minister had “suggested that parents should think twice about having so many children if they cannot support them without the help of benefits”.
And so the benefit cap and the two-child limit came into being.
In 2018, a United Nations investigation led by Special Rapporteur Philip Alston found that rising poverty in the UK was not inevitable but “a political choice”. Alston argued that austerity policies, including benefit freezes and cuts to family support, were ideologically driven and had “inflicted great misery” on children and low-income families.
Growing child poverty
Today the repercussions are visible in a shocking level of deprivation, with 4.5 million children living in poverty. Without action, this figure is projected to rise to 4.7 million by the end of this parliament.
There is inequality in the rate of child poverty across regions. In the East of England region, 23% of children live in poverty, compared to the national average of 31%.
A research project revealed that the benefit cap and two child limit policies ignored the everyday realities of people’s lives. The assumption that a two-child limit would cause families to “think twice” about pregnancy was flawed. Many families only discovered the limit after the birth of a new child, or when a change in their personal circumstances had led them to claim benefits for the first time – a relationship breakdown, a job loss, sudden caring responsibilities, accidental pregnancy or a child with additional needs that made working more hours impossible.
Poverty and hunger
The Trussell Trust reports that more than 14 million people in the UK – including 3.8 million children – faced hunger last year because of insufficient money for food. With 29% of their food parcels going to families with three or more children, the Trust blames an ineffective social security system failing to provide an effective safety net, coupled with policies, like the two-child limit, forcing hundreds of thousands of households into poverty.
The consequences for children are profound. Hunger and poor nutrition compromise a child’s health, as well as their ability to learn. Malnutrition can lead to behavioural problems, feelings of shame, and impact their future opportunities, career and longevity. There are even reports that the height of children aged five has been declining since 2013 due to lack of essential nutrients.
Change and the future
In December 2025 the government published its strategy: Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty. The report states:
“The statistics alone are shocking enough but think about the individual human cost. Think about the skipped meals. The cold bedrooms. The school uniform that’s too small or worn through. Should any of this really be happening in a country like ours?
“The answer, in both first principles and evidence, is a resounding no. And so this child poverty strategy sets out a different path for Britain.”
In the foreword to the strategy, Keir Starmer writes, “Driving down child poverty must therefore be viewed as an essential part of the Government’s wider ambitions to tackle the cost of living for working people.”
The government’s strategy to improve children’s lives and life chances aims to address the root causes. Parents will be given the tools, and children the chances, to reduce the harmful effects of child poverty. Increases to the National Living Wage, a new £1 billion package for a Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF), effective April 2026, and scrapping the two child limit, the government says, will lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
Is this enough?
The Trussell Trust states that the “multi-year funding for the CRF is extremely welcome…[it] can provide a lifeline to people when they are struggling to cope with the cost of living and reduce the need for emergency food to fill the gap in a crisis, as well as helping people onto a more secure financial footing for the future”.
However, they warn it will not solve persistent hardship. Nor address the problems created by “the design and delivery of the social security system”.
The Trust recommends a new cash-first, individual needs-led approach to crisis support. An inability to afford food is a symptom of not having enough money for essentials, including rent, energy, clothes and transport. Free and low-cost food is not a solution. There must be a reduction in the need for food banks as well as action taken to address the drivers of financial crisis.
Scrapping the two-child limit will lift thousands of children out of poverty. However, the End Child Poverty Coalition points out that “had the government chosen to scrap the benefit cap alongside this, the number of children impacted would have increased to 400,000 children being lifted out of poverty, and 950,000 children living in less deep poverty”.
The government is taking action to address child poverty. But the alarming number of children living in poverty suggests that far more needs to be done. Big Issue founder Lord John Bird will lead a group of peers in a renewed attempt to expand the remit of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. He is calling for present and future governments to set themselves statutory targets on reducing child poverty. This will be discussed on 14 January 2026.
Only time will tell if the millions of children currently living in poverty will have a bright and healthy future.
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