UK: Lifting two-child limit ‘fails to go far enough’ to tackle child poverty

In response to the scrapping of the two-child limit coming into force on Monday 6 April, Jen Clark, Amnesty International UK’s Economic, Cultural and Social Rights Lead, said:

“However welcome the lifting of the two-child limit is, it fails to go far enough to help the vast majority of children living in poverty in the UK.

“The Government urgently needs to make changes to the social security system to make it fairer, particularly given the growing cost of living crisis. This includes removing the benefit cap and scrapping the devastating system of sanctions. For decades, these policies have kept those most in need in poverty, forcing parents to choose between putting food on the table and turning the heating on.

“Successive governments have failed to fix the system which punishes, harms and dehumanises the very people it is supposed to help, and knowingly created policies that increase poverty instead of addressing people’s needs and respecting their human rights.

“The Government’s slashing of support for people with disabilities and health conditions is a clear example of this and a devastating step in the wrong direction that will push many people deeper into poverty.

“Social security is not a luxury or a favour bestowed by the state – it is vital to ensure that every person in this country has the basics needed for a decent life. Poverty, hunger and homelessness persist as a result of political choices.”

Consciously cruel system

According to the latest Government figures, more than 13 million people – including 4 million children – are living in poverty in the UK, and lifting the two-child limit will only affect 450,000 children. In addition to the already exiting unfairness in the social security system, the Government’s cuts to health-related social security is one of the most harmful policy shifts in this area. Under the new rules, someone who becomes ill and is forced out of work after the cut-off date could receive as little as half the support they would have previously been entitled to. This creates an arbitrary, date-based cliff edge where two people with identical needs and costs are treated dramatically differently, which will have a devastating impact on those who need this support to survive.

Amnesty’s examination of the UK’s social security system, ‘Social Insecurity’, exposed a harmful, dehumanising system that perpetuates deprivation of living standards for those reliant on it. Successive UK governments have ignored UN calls to take urgent action to fix it and have knowingly made choices that make poverty worse, deliberately violating people’s basic human rights and failing to meet the UK’s international legal obligations. The UK has moved from being a society that supports people to one characterised by a punitive system that drives poverty by policy. Amnesty UK is calling for the establishment of an independent statutory commission on poverty to ensure we have a system that respects human rights and ensures everyone has enough to live with dignity.