Capped in Crisis
Experiences of the two-child limit and the benefit cap during the ongoing cost of living crisis
Dr Kate Andersen, research associate for School for Business and Society, has produced a new policy briefing based on her work on the Benefit Changes and Larger Families project.
This briefing summarises the findings from the fourth round of interviews from this project, which took place between November 2023 and January 2024.
This research shows that families affected by the benefit cap and/or two-child limit are experiencing extreme hardship during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
- Families are unable to afford basic necessities and are rapidly incurring debt.
- This financial hardship is negatively affecting parents’ mental health.
- The cost of living payments have been a welcome but inadequate support for protecting families during the crisis.
- The two-child limit and the benefit cap need to be abolished urgently.
The briefing argues that abolishing the benefit cap would substantially reduce the depth of poverty for the 300,000 children living in families affected by the cap, and cost £300 million. Scrapping the two-child limit would lift 300,000 children out of poverty and mean 800,000 children are in less deep poverty, at a cost of £1.8 billion.