Bridget Phillipson says there is ‘real urgency’ to scrapping two-child benefit cap - Usdaw welcomes the call

Bridget Phillipson, cabinet minister and Labour deputy leadership candidate, said she was “clear about the evidence” and what needs to be done about the policy. Asked if it needs to be lifted now, she told BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking: “There’s a real urgency about this because every year that passes as children are born, as they move into that system, the numbers go up, child poverty rates increase. This was a Tory policy that’s had a devastating impact on children, and we’ll sort it.”

Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “Usdaw represents hundreds of thousands of working parents and times are tough at the moment with a lot of working families struggling to make ends meet. There are many issues that affect family incomes and we welcome the Government’s commitment to review universal credit and paid parental leave to help better support low-paid working parents; Usdaw will be fully participating in those reviews.

“With the Budget due on 26 November, we welcome that our nominee for Labour deputy leader Bridget Phillipson has called for urgent changes to the unfair two-child rule. It breaks the link between need and a minimum level of support, a fundamental pillar of the social security system. It blames and punishes children for having more than one brother or sister and enshrines in law the unethical and deeply unfair principle that some children, because of the circumstances of their birth, are less deserving than others.

“The two-child rule also increases and deepens poverty. The deeper families move into poverty, the harder it is for them to work their way out. It appears the Chancellor is listening and we hope that there will be an announcement in the Budget about the two-child policy, which has a heavy impact on many working families and is just plain wrong.”