BLOG: Lifting the Cap, Lifting Children Out of Poverty by Alexis Darby, Head of Public Affairs

“Poverty has no return on investment.” Health Equity North

The two-child limit remains the single biggest driver of child poverty in the UK today. It restricts Universal Credit and Tax Credit payments to the first two children in a family, therefore punishing parents for having a third child and deepening hardship for millions.

According to the Resolution Foundation, scrapping the two-child limit would lift over 400,000 children out of poverty immediately. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimates that ending the policy would prevent a further 150,000 children from being pushed into poverty over this Parliament.

Almost every major child poverty organisation agrees: if the government is serious about ending child poverty, scrapping the two-child limit must be the first step.

Years of evidence and still no action

Since our first Child of the North report, Health Equity North has consistently demonstrated how this policy harms children’s health, exacerbates inequality, and perpetuates family poverty. Over the past three years, our research, events and advocacy have built a strong evidence base.

Here’s an overview of our work.

In January 2023, the ‘Children and the Cost of Living Crisis’ APPG report identified the two-child limit as one of the most harmful policies for families in the North. We have continued to build the evidence for change.

In May 2023, Emma Lewell MP drew on this report during a Parliamentary Question to the then Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, at PMQs, and this was followed in July 2023 by Kim Johnson MP, who led a Westminster Hall debate focused on the two-child cap, supported by our research.

At Labour Party Conference that year the issue took centre stage at our event and in April 2024 we included scrapping the limit as a key recommendation in ‘Children in Care: A Northern Perspective’, an APPG report that was later featured on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, where Wes Streeting MP, the Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care, was asked directly whether a Labour Government would commit to ending the policy.

In July 2024, the cap was discussed again at the Health Equity North Summit, following the Prime Minister’s announcement of the Child Poverty Taskforce, and in September 2024 our ‘Woman of the North’ report highlighted the gendered and regional inequalities the policy reinforces. 

At the Labour Party Conference in 2024, Journalist Terri White was a member of our Child of the North panel, a discussion that later inspired her collaboration with The Guardian on a powerful short film about families affected by the policy.

We renewed the call to scrap the limit following the March 2025 Spring Statement, and in June 2025 we submitted evidence on behalf of the Child of the North APPG to the Government’s Child Poverty Taskforce.

By July 2025, this policy featured in Health Equity North’s report on ‘Food, Health and Nutrition in the North of England’ and in the APPGs report ‘Hungry for Change: Tackling Obesity and Food Insecurity in the North of England’ showing that families hit by the limit also experience the highest rates of food insecurity and poor health.

Finally, at the September 2025 Child of the North Summit in Leeds, ending the two-child limit was once again the loudest call from academic  and community leaders alike. For nearly three years, every report, event and debate has told the same story: the two-child limit must go.

This year at Labour Party Conference, our Child of the North event, chaired by Kate Proctor, UK News Lead at Save the Children, brought together Sam Rushworth MP and a member of the Child of the North APPG, along with leading academics. The message was unanimous: ending the two-child limit must be Labour’s defining act on child poverty. You can watch a recording of the session on our YouTube channel.

We also supported and spoke at other fringe events throughout the week, from discussions on welfare reform to panels on regional inequality, all of which returned to the same conclusion: this policy needs to change.

And this year, more than ever, it wasn’t just our events. Across the conference hall, exhibition spaces and fringe meetings, scrapping the two-child limit was one of the most talked-about policies. From the Fabian Society to Save the Children and CPAG, a united coalition called for immediate action.

Media Coverage and Public Awareness

Our call to end the two-child limit has reached beyond policy circles. Over the past two years, Health Equity North and the Child of the North APPG have driven national media attention to the issue, ensuring the real impact on families is impossible to ignore. Coverage has appeared across BBC Radio 4’s World at One, The Guardian, The Mirror, and regional outlets including ITV News and The Yorkshire Post, highlighting the lived experiences behind the statistics. Through sustained engagement with the media, we’ve kept the two-child limit in the headlines.

 The True Cost of Delay

Since the Labour Government took office, 10,000 more children are now in poverty because of the two-child limit,  that’s 109 children every single day since July 5, 2024.

Without urgent intervention, the number of children living in poverty in the UK is projected to rise from 4.5 million to 4.8 million by the end of this Parliament.

Behind every one of those numbers is a child going to school hungry, a parent skipping meals, or a family unable to afford heating.

Keeping the two-child limit is choosing to keep children poor.

Leadership

In his speech to the Labour Party Conference, Keir Starmer pledged to make child poverty a thing of the past,  promising to “eradicate child poverty once and for all.”

Those words matter and they must be backed by action and that action starts with scrapping the two-child limit.

We now wait for the findings of the Child Poverty Taskforce, due before the Budget in November.  If the Government truly wants to build a fairer Britain, this policy must be scrapped, as every week of delay is another week of hunger, stress and wasted potential for children across the country.

Over the past three years, Health Equity North has combined research, advocacy, and public engagement to drive national attention to this issue. From parliamentary debates and northern summits to coverage in The Guardian, our message has remained clear:

Poverty has no return on investment, and the two-child limit has no place in a fair society.