1140 Local Families Hit by UK Government’s 2 Child Cap
Hyslop Urges Scraping of Heartless Policy
Local Linlithgow MSP Fiona Hyslop is urging the Conservative UK Government to scrap their heartless and unfair two child cap policy which according to new research means over 15% of all children across the Linlithgow and Falkirk East Constituency could be affected.
Fiona commented:
“Social security should be a safety net for all of us, but the two-child limit is having a devastating effect on 1140 families in Linlithgow and Falkirk East, with 3705 children set to be affected by it.
“This heartless policy turns people away when they need support the most and leaves children to grow up in hardship which can have lifelong consequences on their health and wellbeing.
“The SNP Government in Scotland has been left to pick up the pieces, investing over £125 million to mitigate callous Tory welfare policies. In addition, it is introducing a Scottish Child Payment to tackle child poverty.
“The two-child cap policy and the horrendous “Rape Claus” is cruel and unfair and that is why I am calling on the Conservative UK Government to scrap it, to make tackling poverty a priority instead of forcing mitigation costs on the Scottish Government.”
ENDS
To Note:
The “two-child policy” allows low-income families to claim child tax credits or universal credit for their first two children only.
New research from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has revealed that 160,000 families have had their income slashed by the two-child limit to-date.
The charity estimates that more than 3 million children could eventually be affected by the benefit cap.
Map by parliamentary constituency – www.cpag.org.uk/twochildlimitmap
*This map shows data on the number of families with three or more children – and the number of children living in these families – who are claiming child tax credits in each parliamentary constituency, which we obtained through a Freedom of Information request to HMRC (FOI2018/02694). We assume that a similar number of families with three or more children will require support in these constituencies in the years to come. (Eventually, all families with three or more children who claim child tax credits or universal credit will become subject to the limit, as more families with three or more children include at least one child born after April 2017.)
Report – http://www.cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/All%20Kids%20Count%20report%20FINAL_0.pdf