Key Facts

• Clause 1 removes the universal credit two-child limit in Great Britain from April this year.
• The removal will lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
• New clause 1 requires an impact assessment within six months on households and children not receiving full benefit increases due to the benefit cap.
• New clause 2 mandates an impact assessment within twelve months on households in poverty with more than two children that have at least one disabled family member, considering cumulative impacts since July 2024.
• New clause 3 requires a review of the Act's effects on child poverty, destitution, educational outcomes, health outcomes, and long-term economic impacts within twelve months.
• New clause 4 mandates an assessment of the Act's impact on children and child poverty, estimating annual costs to the Exchequer, including consultations with organisations such as Child Poverty Action Group and Save the Children UK.
• Clause 2 removes the two-child limit on Universal Credit in Northern Ireland from April.
• Removing the two-child limit is expected to lift over 50,000 children out of poverty in Northern Ireland.
• The Bill will increase the universal credit award for 560,000 families by an average of £5,310 per year.
• Poverty decreased under the last Government; there are now 1.2 million children living in homes where no parent has worked for over a year.
• Children in long-term workless households are four times more likely to be materially deprived and 10% more likely to end up workless themselves.
• Britain’s youth unemployment rate is higher than Europe’s for the first time since records began; 729,000 16 to 24-year-olds are unemployed.
• Scrapping the two-child limit will cost about £3.5 billion.
• Inflation has risen to nearly double the level when the Government came into office.
• Passported benefits cost the taxpayer £10 billion annually.
• Scrapping the two-child limit will further exacerbate the imbalance in the welfare system.
• The removal of the two-child limit will lift 540,000 children out of absolute poverty.
• The cap has impacted over 500 families in the speaker's constituency.
• Lifting the overall benefit cap is recommended to complement removing the two-child limit.
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported that 141,000 children will not see full benefits from removing the two-child limit.
• 50,000 children will get no benefit at all because of the benefit cap.
• Life expectancy in the UK is ranked 24th out of 38 OECD countries.
• Infant mortality is now ranked 29th among OECD countries.
• Over half of children in secure accommodation are eligible for free school meals.
• The Bill affects more than 200,000 children.
• Nearly 1,000 families in Berry's constituency are affected due to high housing costs.
• New clause 1 has wide cross-party support.
• New clauses 3 and 4 aim to look at the impact of the Bill on disabled people and mental health.
• The Bill aims to lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
• There are currently 150,000 children who remain affected by the overall cap.
• A family with three working parents would need to earn £71,000 to match a non-working three-child family's income after lifting the two-child limit.
• The two-child cap should never have been introduced.
• Lifting the two-child cap will cause an 11% fall in child poverty and a nearly 20% drop in deep poverty, according to modelling by the Bevan Foundation and Policy in Practice.
• Over 3,000 households were affected by the benefit cap in Wales as of May last year, with 83% being households with children.
• Forcing women to prove rape in order to feed their child was one of the most cruel features ever embedded in our welfare system.
• Around 59% of households affected by the two-child limit are already in work.
• The Bank of England expects inflation to reach target quicker than expected.
• £1,400 has been taken off new mortgages through six interest rate cuts since the election.
• Portsmouth's average mortgage reduction is £1,750 and £62 million has been provided for local services.
• 40% of families affected by the two-child limit have a disabled family member.
• The Government has reduced the percentage of clawbacks but not their affordability.
• None of the childcare, free school meals or school uniforms measures apply in Scotland.
• Interventions in the child poverty strategy are expected to lead to the biggest reduction in child poverty since comparable records began.
• Removing the two-child limit is considered a key step towards improving children's lives, mental health, school performance and future prospects.
• New clauses propose reports on the effect of the benefit cap on children in households and support work incentives.
• The most recent quarterly statistics show that one-third of capped households (40,000 out of 119,000) were no longer capped by the end of the quarter.
• The Department publishes quarterly statistics on the benefit cap and will publish annual statistics on both the two-child limit and the benefit cap in the summer.
• A monitoring and evaluation framework is set to track and evaluate progress regarding child poverty strategy.
• Two million children will benefit from the removal of the two-child limit.
• A comprehensive programme of analysis will evaluate the drivers of child poverty and the impact of specific interventions.
• Within 12 months, a review must be conducted on the Act's effect on overall levels of child poverty in the UK, destitution, educational outcomes, health outcomes, and economic impacts.
• The Bill adds £3 billion annually to the welfare budget over five years, costing a total of £14 billion.
• A single parent with five children will receive an extra £10,000 in benefits annually under the new rules.
• Unemployment has risen every month during this Government's tenure.
• The two-child limit policy was opposed by the SNP since its inception.
• Women had to disclose instances of rape for an exemption from the two-child limit.
• Labour is removing the two-child limit starting in April.