Startling new data obtained by the End Child Poverty Coalition has shown that more than one in ten children living in Wales are affected by the two-child limit to benefits.
The End Child Poverty Coalition has revealed the huge impact that the two-child limit is having in Wales, with research showing 11% of all children in the country, more than 65,000, affected.
The two-child limit applies to families entitled to benefits who have had a third or subsequent child after 6 April 2017, as part of legislation brought in by the Conservative government.
These parents are denied £3,235 per year per child compared with families who have a third or subsequent child born before that date.
Reacting to the data, Dr Steffan Evans, Head of Policy (Poverty) at the Bevan Foundation, said:
“The two-child limit on benefits is an unfair policy. People would rightly be outraged if schools or hospitals turned away children because they have two older siblings, yet this is what the two-child limit to benefits does. To see that so many children in Wales are affected by this policy is highly concerning.”
The two child-limit is affecting children all over Wales, with almost all local authorities seeing at least one in ten children impacted.
But the poorest families are hit the hardest by the policy as they are less able to make up the huge shortfall in income.
The publication of the new data follows on from the publication of a report earlier this year that highlighted that children from larger families are also significantly more likely to live in poverty.
In 2021/22, the UK poverty rate among children with two or more siblings was 42 per cent, compared with 23 per cent and 22 per cent among children in families with one or two children. Research suggests that scrapping the two-child limit is one of the most cost-effective ways of addressing child poverty.
Dr Steffan Evans added:
“At a UK level the End Child Poverty Coalition is calling for the two-child limit to be scrapped, given the clear link between the policy and child poverty rates in larger families.”
“In Wales, the Wales Expert Group on the Cost of Living Crisis called on the Welsh Government to establish an emergency payment to all households with children with extra for large households to help families through the coming months. The new data shows why the creation of such a payment is more important than ever.”
The new data comes as poverty and child poverty in Wales continue to rise.
According to a report on child poverty published earlier this year, 27.9% of children in Wales were living in poverty in 2021/22.
Meanwhile the Trussell Trust – the organisation that operates most of the food banks in the UK – distributed 185,320 emergency parcels in Wales between April 2022 and March 2023. It was the most parcels that have ever been distributed in a year.
But despite the evidence of the real harm inflicted by the Conservative government’s two-child limit, the Labour leader Keir Starmer has said the party will keep it in place if they win the next general election.
Labour are widely anticipated to win the election due to be held in 2024, but in July said they would not change the Tory policy despite the widespread damage it is doing.
The research has revealed that more than one in ten children are affected by the two-child limit in every Welsh local authority bar three (Monmouthshire, the Vale of Glamorgan and Powys). Denbighshire is the local authority where the highest proportion of children are affected by the two-child limit with one in seven children in the local authority affected. Cardiff meanwhile is the local authority where the highest number of children are affected, with 9,250 families affected by the two-child limit.
“The two-child limit is having an impact on families in all of our communities. Across Wales there will be families dreading Christmas, worrying about how they are going to heat their home and feed their children rather than looking forward to what should be a magical time of year,” Dr Steffan Evans said.
He said that at the UK level, the End Child Poverty Coalition is calling for the two-child limit to be scrapped, given the clear link between the policy and child poverty rates in larger families.
In Wales, the Wales Expert Group on the Cost of Living Crisis has called on the Welsh Government to establish an emergency payment to all households with children with extra for large households to help families through the coming months.
“The new data shows why the creation of such a payment is more important than ever,” Dr Evans added.
