In April, there were a total of 450,000 households who claimed Universal Credit that had a third or subsequent child living there born on or after 6 April 2017, who also went without the Government’s help.
Further, there are 370,000 households that claimed Universal Credit and 69,000 Child Tax Credit households who did not receive the financial support in April due to the policy’s limit, according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The number of those families going without the cash help due to the cap has risen since the statistics were published in 2018.
However, there were 24,000 families who had a third or subsequent child on or after that date that did receive an exception despite the limit.
This was largely (69%) due to mothers giving birth to multiple children.
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The cash boost can be worth an extra £3,455 to low-income families for each child they have, and by the end of the next Parliament in 2029, 675,000 children will be affected.
Ditching the child cap could keep half a million children out of poverty, a separate study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found.
Before the election, the Labour Party said it would scrap the threshold “when fiscal conditions allow”, although this was not included in Keir Starmer’s manifesto. If the Government chose to abolish the benefit cap, it would cost up to £3.4bn per year, which equates to the cost of freezing fuel duties for the next Parliament.
‘Rising number missing out is concerning’
Thomas Lawson, chief executive of anti-poverty charity Turn2us, says the rising number of children affected by the limit is “concerning”.
Lawson said: “The policy now impacts one in nine children, up from one in 10 last year, affecting around 450,000 households and 1.6 million children. This policy denies essential support, further embedding harmful stigma into our social security systems and treating larger families as less deserving.
“Turn2us finds this increased number deeply troubling and calls on the new Labour government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer to abolish this punitive policy. We advocate for a welfare system that supports all families fairly, promoting social justice and eradicating stigma, ensuring that no child’s opportunities are limited by their family structure.”
