Social justice secretary urges Chancellor to remove two-child limit and benefit cap

Ms Somerville has called on the UK Government to fully scrap the two-child limit on benefits, which pulls 109 children into poverty every day, while also removing the benefit cap at the same time, which limits the total amount of benefit a person can receive.

Subject to parliamentary approval, the Scottish Government plans to mitigate the two-child limit from March next year, through a new Two-Child Limit Payment worth £292.81 a month for eligible recipients.

Estimates show this will keep 20,000 children out of relative poverty next year. The Scottish Government is spending £100 million this financial year, through the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme, to mitigate the benefits cap as far as possible within devolved powers.

Ms Somerville said: “Once again, I am making it clear that the UK Government must fully scrap the two-child limit and the benefit cap as soon as possible. These policies should be confined to the darkest days of austerity and the UK Budget must bring this period to an end.  

“In a country as rich as ours, no child should have to live in poverty. The UK social security system is supposed to be there to ensure a basic standard of living, reduce poverty and inequality and help people through the toughest of times.

“That is why the Scottish Government has made bold decisions - like introducing the Scottish Child Payment and investing in our devolved social security system. Child poverty rates are now lower in Scotland than the rest of the UK and relative child poverty rates in Scotland are at their lowest level in almost a decade.

“I call on the Chancellor to follow our example by scrapping the caps, match the Scottish Child Payment and introduce an essentials guarantee, which would ensure Universal Credit actually covers the costs of life’s essentials, such as food and fuel.”

The secretary is holding a series of meetings with anti-poverty charities and academics in London today to discuss levers to tackle child poverty.

Scottish Government modelling estimates that if the UK Government introduced an essentials guarantee while matching the Scottish Child Payment and scrapping the two-child limit and benefit cap, it would lift 100,000 children in Scotland out of poverty this year.