More than 1.6m kids across the UK hit by two-child benefit cap, DWP figures show
More than 1.6 million kids across the UK have been hit by the two-child benefit cap, official figures show.
Numbers from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed that the number had increased by almost 40,000 in just a year.
The limit was introduced by the previous Tory Government and restricts access to some means-tested benefits to two kids.
The Scottish Government has pledged to scrap the cap before next year's Holyrood election, after Labour Prime minister refused to do so. Scottish labour opposes the policy.
More than 13,000 more households have been hit by the benefit limit in the past 12 months. This means that nearly half a million families are impacted overall.
SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson Kirsty Blackman said: "It's shameful that almost 1.7million children are now being hit by the Labour Party's two child benefit cap - with thousands of families languishing in poverty as a result.
"This punitive welfare policy should have been scrapped on the first day Keir Starmer got into Downing Street but instead the Labour government has disgracefully pushed thousands more children into poverty by failing to lift a finger."
The cap was introduced in 2017 to stop parents claiming benefits for more than two children.
Recent reports have suggested Labour could get rid of the limit when it releases its child poverty strategy later this year.
But the U-turn on benefit cuts has meant that the government now has to plug a £5 billion gap in the country's finances.
Dan Paskins, executive director of policy at Save the Children UK, said: 'Behind every number is a child missing out on essentials like food, clothing and a decent home, through no fault of their own.
'No child should be treated as less deserving simply because of when they were born. There is no way to reduce child poverty in this parliament without scrapping the two-child limit.
'The government must do the right thing and abolish the two-child limit, or risk being the first Labour Government to oversee a significant rise in child poverty.'
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