Anti-poverty charity urges Government to lift two-child limit
Trussell say the move would bring almost half a million children out of poverty
A Wiltshire-based anti-poverty charity is urging the Government to lift the two-child benefit limit in this months budget.
Trussell, which is based in Salisbury, says the move would benefit hundreds of thousand of people, lifting almost half a million children out of hardship.
The two-child limit prevents households claiming universal or tax credit from getting payments for a third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
But ahead of the budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested this could be removed, saying it's not right that children in bigger families are penalised "through no fault of their own".
Head of Policy at Trussell, Ayaz Manji told us that lifting the limit would be "the difference between hunger and hardship for hundreds and thousands of people".
He said that "millions more people" are facing hardship than even a few years ago, with one in three food parcels provided by Trussell foodbanks are going to the families with three or more children.
"That means that food banks every week are seeing parents who are skipping meals, who are struggling to turn the heating on and who are doing everything they can to avoid being in the situation where they're forced to turn to us," Ayaz said.
He told us that currently, 109 children are being pushed into hardship every day.
"Every child should deserve to have a good start in life, and being able to afford the essentials is a crucial part of that. It's not right that in 2025 in the UK that children the age of two or three or even younger have to know what a food bank is, let alone be forced to turn to one."
He added that the impact of lifting the limit would have immediate impacts, with as many as 700,000 people lifted out of poverty by 2027.
Ayaz said it's crucial the Government follows through on its promise to tackle hunger and hardship, insisting it can only be achieved with "decisive action".
"When we think about that, that 109 children every single day who are being pushed into poverty by this policy, lifting the two child limit in full is the number one priority to achieve those things."