Overview

• Care minister Stephen Kinnock said discussions are “ongoing” and that, as things stand, lifting the cap “is not government policy,” following Lord Neil Kinnock’s call to abolish it.
• He confirmed Rachel Reeves will deliver a Budget in October and stressed that fiscal decisions are the Chancellor’s alone.
• Official parliamentary data show 71,580 families with five or more children would become eligible for at least £18,122 a year if the cap were abolished, with some ten‑plus‑child households above £35,000.
• Analysts put the annual cost of abolition at about £3.5bn, and Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates suggest ending the policy could lift around half a million children out of poverty.
• Pressure from senior Labour figures is intensifying as the National Institute of Economic and Social Research warns of a public‑finance shortfall of up to £50bn.