SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan
The policy, introduced as part of welfare reform, restricts benefit payments for Universal Credit and tax credits claimants, worth up to £50 per week per child, to the first two children and applies to all those born after April 2017.
Following new analysis, the Child Poverty Action Group stated that the two-child limit was the biggest driver of rising child poverty.
Estimates show that by 2026/27, over 50% of children in families with more than two children across the UK are predicted to be in poverty.
Said the Foyle MLA: “It was clear from the outset that this cruel policy would have catastrophic consequences for some of the poorest families in society. Yet warnings from myself and campaigners like the Cliff Edge Coalition went ignored.
“In 2020, then Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín promised to address the benefit cap and the two child tax credit rule in future legislation.
“Subsequently, Minister Deirdre Hargey promised protections would be included in the new round of welfare mitigations.
“These promises rang hollow then and reverberate now, meanwhile impacted families have been pushed deeper into poverty.
“No-one could have envisioned the events which have transpired in the intervening years; from the Covid pandemic to the cost of living crisis, with more people pushed into the welfare system and sadly, this will inevitably increase the number of families impacted by the two-child limit.
“This situation could have been prevented if welfare mitigations were treated with the urgency required, instead, thousands of families will bear the brunt of this brutal policy.
“The estimated figure of 4,000 impacted households across the North of Ireland was provided by the Department for Work and Pensions almost two years ago.
“It’s likely that the number of affected families is much greater.
“Three-child families impacted by the two-child limit are facing a spiralling shortfall in meeting the cost of raising their children because benefits are lagging far behind the rising cost of living.
“The majority of these families have parents who are in work yet current government policy ensures the poor get poorer.
“The two child limit has only served to punish children and young families.
“Westminster has a duty to step in now to reverse this cruel policy and reduce suffering.”
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