Gordon Brown calls for ‘total abolition’ of two-child benefit cap
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has pressed ministers to do more to address the “scar” of child poverty in Britain, calling for the two-child benefit cap to be “completely abolished”.
Speaking at a conference to mark the 60th anniversary of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), the former Labor prime minister and chancellor rejected proposals to water down the controversial policy and instead called for its complete removal.
Pressure has increased on ministers to remove the measure in the approach to the next budget and publish the government’s delayed child poverty strategy.
Campaigners at CPAG say the policy is pushing 109 children a day into poverty and that without action the number of children in poverty in the UK will rise from 4.5 million to 4.7 million by the end of this parliament.
The cap, introduced under Conservative welfare reforms, prevents parents from benefiting from the child element of universal credit worth £292.81 a month for their third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
Ministers are now understood to be considering partially lifting the cap, which would see the cap adjusted slightly rather than being removed entirely. This could be done by increasing the limit to three or four children, or by introducing a reduction rate that would ensure parents receive higher rights for their first child and fewer rights for subsequent children.
Speaking in London, Mr Brown said: “Complete abolition is far preferable to any mitigation or other form of reform that does not eliminate the two-child rule in its entirety.
“But there is a bigger reason why we should repeal the two-child rule. There should be no stain on the legislative books of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, where this bias was introduced into law almost 10 years ago.”
He said the then Conservative Chancellor George Osborne “what he wanted you to believe was that taxpayers were paying for children when they couldn’t afford to have them, paying for other people to have children who were poor parents on benefits and actually had children to get benefits.”
He said it was a “prejudice” [Mr Osborne] tried to instill in the mind of the country” but said it was actually “a fictional account of England”.
Speaking after the former prime minister, Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern praised his work on tackling child poverty but said he would “not pre-empt” any decisions that could be announced in the child poverty strategy.
Labor pledged to reduce child poverty in its election manifesto but has not yet set a target for this reduction. Mr Brown also called on ministers to include it in the upcoming strategy.
He reiterated his call for a higher tax on gambling profits as a precaution and, if necessary, a higher tax on banks, pointing out that the UK’s Bank Corporation Tax Surcharge will be reduced from 8 per cent to 3 per cent in 2023.
An earlier report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), backed by Mr Brown, suggested reforms to gambling taxes could generate the £3.2bn needed to remove both the two-child limit and the benefit cap.
The Solution Foundation think tank has previously estimated that easing the two-child limit so families can receive support for the first three children they have would cost £2.4bn in 2029/30 and lift 280,000 children out of poverty.
CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “With child poverty at record highs, we need decisive action from the Government and the first step must be to abolish the two-child limit altogether.
“Half measures and concessions will not shift the dial. This policy needs to be abolished completely, otherwise a generation of children will grow up without opportunities.”
Ahead of Mr Brown’s speech, a Government spokesman said his strategy would set out “how to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty”.
They added: “We’re investing £500 million in children’s development with the launch of Best Start Family Centres, extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest don’t go hungry over the holidays through a new £1 billion crisis support package.”
