15 hours ago
'I had my Universal Credit cut on Mother's Day, the government's two-child limit makes me feel like a failure'
A single mother who had her universal credit payment cut on mother's day said the government made her feel "like a failure as a parent" instead of protecting her by scrapping the UK's most damaging benefits policy for children.
Mother-of-three Thea Jaffe is from one of the 450,000 households in the UK that are struggling because of the the two-child-benefit limit, which caps benefit payments to cover only the first two children a family has.
The policy, first brought in by the Conservative government in 2017, was justified as a measure to encourage parents to only have children they could afford without state support.
Charities and campaigners like Save the Children, Trussell Trust and Child Poverty Action Group have continued to urged the government to scrap the limit, and said that removing it is the most cost effective way to lift children out of poverty.
A letter the charities sent to the government earlier this month warned that the two-child limit has already pulled 37,000 children into poverty since the government took office, and every day 109 more children face the same plight.
The Labour manifesto pledged to abolish the cap "when financial conditions permit", but no firm commitment or timetable has been set. The Scottish government announced it will scrap the limit from March 2026.
Initially, the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, ruled out scrapping the cap, emphasising fiscal constraints and suspending MPs who voted to remove it with the SNP after the 2024 election.
However, in recent months, the government's stance has softened.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson and the prime minister have both indicated that scrapping the cap is "not off the table" and that the government "will look at" lifting it as part of a broader child poverty strategy that is due out later this year.
For parents like Thea, even earning a good wage does not protect her family from the continuous damage caused by the cap.
"I consider myself pretty lucky in a way. I have a great job, I work for a really good company, and my income is £45,000 pounds a year before taxes," she told Yahoo News.
"But I'm living proof that you can have a good job with a good salary and still struggle, and that is not a that is not a good outcome for somebody that's being pushed into work by universal credit," she added.
Calculating her incomings and outgoings is essential if Jaffe wants to make it through the month.
She said: "I'm in the area of north London I've lived in since 2009, rent for my one-bed apartment is £2000 a month.
"Childcare for my two youngest children, who are a baby and a toddler, is £2600 a month. I'm bringing in £2800 a month from my employer. Added to that the after-school club for my 10-year-old, who is in year five, is £300 a month.
"Already like we've got a problem. Already, I need universal credit...
"Added to the £2800 a month I'm bringing in from my employer, it is tight, but we can make ends meet at push. But then, disaster struck," she added.
For Thea, this disaster meant she missed out on her universal credit payment because she paid her nursery bill six hours late — upending her payments for the month.
She said: "My baby got sick when around the time when I was supposed to pay the nursery bill in February, so I accidentally paid the nursery bill six hours after the universal credit assessment period ended."
"The DWP refused to reimburse me for that child care payment in that assessment period, which is one calendar month.
"I was told, don't worry we'll pay you in the next assessment period, but I already paid the nursery bill, so I needed the money then," she added.
The knock-on effect was felt later on that year when Jaffe needed to travel to the US for work.
She brought her children with her, as she had family who could assist her in the country with childcare.
It was then she returned to a letter on mother's day from the DWP telling her her universal credit payments would be reduced because she had spent four weeks abroad.
She said: "I was made to feel like I'd gone on a summer holiday, but I was getting support for child care. I still had rent to pay, and nursery bills to meet to ensure my children kept their places.
"I don't know how they did this because I don't know that they work on Sundays — but I was just devastated. I was crying my eyes out in private because I didn't want my kids to see me.
"I felt like a failure at everything, like there's no safe place in the world for me to be a parent," she added.
Jaffe said she wants the government to understand not just the challenges faced by families damaged by the two-child limit, but single parents.
She said: "You've got half the earning potential of a two-parent family. If you're just one parent there's only so much you can do, and also because your time is so limited.
"One thing I want people to understand about in work poverty is that I'm headed from a corporate conference to a food bank. It's logistically and emotionally challenging.
"Food banks are not nearby, and they are only open at certain times. You are not only faced with not having enough money, but not enough time," she added.
Save the Children, who has worked with Jaffe to support her campaign, has urged the government to take action.
"Every day the two-child limit remains in place, more and more children are dragged into poverty," Priya Edwards, senior policy and advocacy adviser for Save the Children UK, told Yahoo News.
"Regardless of what else the UK government does in the spending review to support children, if this policy stays, child poverty will continue to rise to record levels."
Jaffe is now so frustrated by the government delaying scrapping the limit that she has launched a government petition to remove the two-child limit and the benefit cap.
"Sometimes when I speak to those affected by two child limit, they say it's their fault. The system brainwashes parents into thinking these problems are our fault," Jaffe said.
"But by parenting, you're doing an amazing service to society. You're raising the next generation. It shouldn't be that the next generation is just the children of very rich people.
"Our kids are looking at a very grim future if we don't change things right now."
The government has been approached for comment.
