Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “Ending the two-child cap will do more than any other measure to lift children out of poverty and we welcome that that this cruel Tory policy is being scrapped. The UK is one of the seven wealthiest nations in the world, yet millions of our kids are growing up in poverty, which is absolutely shameful, particularly with 7 in 10 of them in working households. That is a legacy of 14 years of Tory failure, with child poverty rising by about 900,000 since 2010.
“Labour is working to turn that around and has made a good start since coming into government, delivering a significant increase in minimum wage rates and helping to make jobs more secure with the Employment Rights Act. Usdaw is participating in the Government’s reviews of the universally discredited Universal Credit system along with parental leave and pay. All these initiatives should make a real difference to working families, as has the rolling out of free breakfast clubs, new nurseries in primary schools and doubling free childcare to 30 hours a week.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest with over 370,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion