On Wednesday morning the 12th December the Work
and Pensions Committee will examine the potential impact – and
effectiveness - of the two-child limit, ahead of the
policy’s scope being widened in February 2019.
Under the current two-child limit, families are not able to claim
child benefits for any third or subsequent child born on or after
6 April 2017. From February 2019 this two-child limit will be
extended to apply to a third or subsequent child for anyone who
makes a new claim to Universal Credit, regardless of when their
children were born. In both instances, there are exceptions,
including when a child is likely to have been conceived through
non-consensual sex. But how this exception operates in practice
remains controversial.
Given the cultural and religious factors that can underpin
choices about family size, there are concerns that the policy
risks indirectly discriminating against certain groups.
There are also questions about the true objectives of the policy
and how likely it is to further them: if the objective is to
bring financial considerations squarely into family planning
decisions, it is difficult to see how refusing benefits for
children born before it was announced or came into force can
work.
The Committee will seek assurances that the means, and benefits,
of achieving the policy’s objectives can outweigh the attendant
risk of exacerbating levels of child poverty in the UK, currently
estimated at 4.1 million children.
Witnesses from women and children’s charities and think tanks
will give evidence on: whether the two-child limit is achieving
its objectives, and at what cost; how it is operating in
practice; and how it sits alongside Government’s wider
responsibilities and commitments to equality and human rights.
Wednesday 12 December
10.20
Thatcher Room
-
Josephine Tucker, Senior Policy and Research Officer, Child
Poverty Action Group
- Tom
Waters, Research Economist, Institute of Fiscal Studies
- Sian
Hawkins, Head of Campaigns and Public Affairs, Women’s Aid
