Overview
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves has signalled support for lifting the cap, with an announcement expected in the November 26 Budget.
- The policy change would reverse a 2017 rule that limits child tax credit and Universal Credit to the first two children in most households.
- Child Poverty Action Group estimates scrapping the cap would lift about 350,000 children out of poverty and reduce deep poverty for around 700,000 more.
- Reports say more than 1.5 million children, roughly one in nine in the UK, live in households currently affected by the limit.
- Labour figures including Angela Rayner have voiced backing and a celebrity-backed letter urged repeal, as ministers shifted from exploring a taper to preparing full abolition.