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Today in Focus

The two-child welfare limit: why won’t Labour scrap the cap?

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tom Clark and Janet Arinaitwe on the politics behind the two-child welfare cap and the impact it has on some of Britain’s poorest families. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:02.0

Today, it's a policy dubbed cruel, inhumane and ineffective.

0:04.0

So why won't Kistarma scrap the two-child

0:16.4

welfare limit?

0:17.0

This is the sound of your performance at Wembley.

0:25.0

No, a blissful soaked under tropical waterfalls.

0:30.0

Wherever your shower takes you, Myra showers will make it your own personal paradise.

0:35.0

From installation to repairs, Myra engineers have nationwide coverage to preserve your sanctuary.

0:41.0

Find your wellness oasis and enjoy a little luxury every day. This message was

0:46.7

paid for by Myra Showers. To find out more visit the Guardian.com forward

0:51.0

slash Myra Showers. In 2015 the Conservative government announced a policy that was supposed to make people think twice about having children they couldn't afford.

1:08.0

In future, we will limit the support provided through tax credits and universal credit to two children.

1:14.0

Families who have a third or subsequent child after April 2017

1:19.0

will not receive additional tax credit ory support for this child.

1:26.0

The then-Chancellor George Osborne, the son of a baronet, the oldest of four boys,

1:31.0

and heir to a luxury wallpaper empire said that the state

1:34.3

shouldn't be subsidising large families. In the current tax credit system each

1:38.8

extra child brings an additional payment of 2,780 pounds a year. It's important to support

1:44.9

families but it's also important to be fair to the many working families who

1:49.9

don't see their budgets rise by anything like that when they have more children.

1:55.6

Around 1.6 million children now live in a household affected by the two child

2:00.6

limit. Experts, including previous Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, argue

...

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