Overview

• Multiple outlets report the chancellor is expected to end the 2017 cap next month, though Rachel Reeves has not confirmed the policy and says funding and specifics will be set out at the Budget.
• Options under review include a taper reducing payments for each additional child, lifting support only up to three or four children, or applying changes to working Universal Credit claimants.
• The cap affects about 1.6–1.7 million children, and think tanks say full repeal could lift hundreds of thousands out of poverty depending on the design.
• The Resolution Foundation estimates complete abolition would cost about £3.5bn a year, while a three‑child limit could cost roughly £2.4bn and lift around 280,000 children out of poverty.
• Labour MPs and anti‑poverty groups, including figures such as Gordon Brown, urge full repeal, as Conservatives question affordability and ministers point to real fiscal constraints.