The latest official statistics revealed that 1.3 million children in 359,000 households were subject to the two-child limit in April, as the policy dragged an extra 150,000 children in 40,000 families into its net. New research into the impact on affected children found they suffered social and emotional damage as a result of their parents finding it almost impossible to afford basic needs, from food and nappies and new shoes to buying birthday presents for friends. The study by York and Oxford academics found that continuing the policy during the cost of living crisis “created an almost impossible framework for affected families, risking long-term harm to millions of children”. Asked about cost-of-living pressures, Asma, a mother interviewed for the Benefit Changes and Larger Families programme, said: “If anything, I think it’s going to get worse… things are going up so high… so you know , that it’s worrying… I don’t think there’s hope right now.” An update from the project said: “We hear a lot of the heat or food dilemma faced by households in poverty. Families affected by the benefit cap and the two-child limit also told us about the stressful and difficult decisions they face choosing which of their children’s basic needs to meet.’ The new figures were published as the government began issuing the first installment of a one-off, flat-rate payment of £650 to around 8 million low-income families in the UK to help them cope with the rising cost of living. Campaigners said this payment offered little comfort to those already falling deeper into poverty at a time of rising prices. “Today’s emergency living costs payment is nowhere near enough to pull them back,” said Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group. The two-child limit limits certain benefit payments to the first two children born in the poorest households after 6 April 2017. Affected households claiming universal credit or tax credits lose £55 a week for their third and subsequent children. The policy was introduced five years ago as a bid to cut the welfare bill and prevent ‘benefit recipients’ from having large families, with one minister saying it would teach messy parents ‘the reality that children cost money’. However, a recent analysis revealed that since the policy was introduced, the fertility rate for third and subsequent children born to poorer families has barely fallen. Instead, it has become the single largest contributor to child poverty, especially for families with three or more children. The policy was also recently denounced by Tory peer Lord Freud, the former social reform secretary, who called it “evil” and “excessive” and said it had been imposed by the Treasury against the wishes of the work and pensions cabinet group in the U time. The latest figures showed that despite ministers’ belief that the two-child limit would provide incentives to work, 59% of families affected by the limit are already working. Some 1,830 mothers received a special exemption from the two-child limit after they reported that their third or subsequent child was born as a result of rape, or in official terminology, “non-consensual conception”. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “This policy means that families on benefits are required to make the same financial decisions as families supported solely by work, including overall childcare provision for working parents and benefits children for all children. “Meanwhile, to help boost prices, more than 8 million households on benefits are set to receive the first installment of our £650 cost of living payment from today, with millions receiving at least £1,200 in extra support” .
