Overview

• Care minister Stephen Kinnock said discussions on lifting the cap are ongoing and that any change is for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to set out in October.
• He added that, as things stand, removing the limit is not government policy, declining to endorse Lord Neil Kinnock’s call to abolish it.
• Newly released data show 71,580 Universal Credit families with five or more children would each be eligible for at least £18,122.88 a year if the cap were scrapped, with some large households gaining over £20,000.
• Campaigners and analysts say ending the cap could lift roughly half a million to 600,000 children out of poverty, with the move estimated to cost about £3.4–£3.5 billion annually.
• The debate over repeal is shaped by tight public finances, including a roughly £50 billion shortfall flagged by NIESR, with Conservatives arguing the change would be unfair to taxpayers and Reform UK saying it would lift the cap.