Overview
- Labour is still weighing options from partial tweaks to full abolition for the Budget, with a reported £3.5bn cost to scrap the cap entirely.
- The Resolution Foundation estimates full abolition would lift about 330,000 children out of poverty immediately and a further 150,000 by 2029–30, warning half-measures would have little effect.
- The Women’s Budget Group projects that ending the limit could raise roughly 665,176 children above the UK poverty line by the end of the decade.
- A UK government spokesperson said an upcoming child poverty strategy will invest in Best Start Family Hubs, extend free school meals, and provide a £1bn crisis support package.
- Political positions remain split, with Conservatives backing the cap, Reform UK proposing removal only for British working couples, and Scotland planning a new two‑child limit payment from March 2026.