New official analysis suggests that Nigel Farage’s policy on child benefit would plunge at least 450,000 children back into poverty if Reform UK were to win power.
Mr Farage seized headlines when he announced that he would scrap the two child benefit cap, months before Labour decided to do it in last month’s Budget.
But the Reform UK leader later clarified that this was only for “working British people, meaning a couple who both work 37.5 hours a week”.
New Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) analysis shows that of the 470,000 households affected by the two-child limit (in receipt of Universal Credit with three or more children, of whom the third was born after 6 April 2017), just 3,700 – less than 0.8 per cent of the total – have two adults working full-time.
This means that the cap would be reintroduced to apply for the vast majority of them.
Charities have warned that it means there is little difference between Reform’s policy and Tory plans to bring back the two child benefit cap in full with Kemi Badenoch claiming the £3.5bn to scrap it was “unaffordable” and that the Budget was “for benefits street”.
With Labour and Reform battling over votes from working class communities, Anna Turley MP, chair of the Labour Party, warned: “Nigel Farage may boast about being on the side of low-paid workers, but his bogus two-child limit policy hardly helps any of the people he pretends to care about, and would lift almost no children out of poverty at all.
“And the Tories put 900,000 children into poverty during their time in office and are openly committed to increasing child poverty all over again.”
But a Reform UK spokesman hit back, saying: “Labour’s Budget robbed alarm clock Britain in order to pay for Benefits Britain. Their blanket lifting of the two-child cap proves this government lacks the guts to tackle the runaway welfare bill and back working British families, opting instead to reward those on benefits.
“Reform will reinstate the two-child cap except for British families where both parents are in full-time work, saving the hardworking British taxpayer £2.7 billion a year over the next 5 years and incentivising more people into work.”
However, charities warned about the impact of Reform’s policy on child poverty in the UK.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s chief analyst Peter Matejic said: “Removing the two-child limit in full is the best decision as far as poverty is concerned and is a necessary part of any credible child poverty strategy.
“Removing it is the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty, it will reduce demand on public services over the medium-term, and increase the health and education outcomes of the children who would have been hit by the limit by the end of the decade.
“Both the Reform and Conservative Party plans amount to leaving around half a million children in poverty.”
Dan Paskins, executive director of UK Impact, said: “We have been clear for many years that scrapping the two-child limit to benefits in full is the most cost effective way of bringing a significant numbers of children out of poverty. We were delighted to see the UK Government announce the end of the cap at the Budget and by their own assessment this lifts 450,000 children out of poverty. Only by scrapping the policy in full are we closer to helping children have the start in life they deserve.”
Meagan Levin, Policy Manager at Turn2us, added: “Reinstating the two-child limit would push families into significant hardship. The Child Poverty Strategy was clear that this is the single most effective policy to reduce child poverty.
“The proposals laid out by these [Reform and the Conservatives] to reintroduce the limit, or keep it in any conditional form, would be a major step backwards, pushing hundreds of thousands of children back into significant hardship. Children should not be punished because of their families’ circumstances, especially when times are tough and when so many people are juggling insecure work, caring responsibilities, ill health or disability.”