Rachel Reeves made the change in her statement on Wednesday
A mum-of-five estimated she will get an extra £900 a month in benefits after the two-child benefit cap was scrapped in this week’s Budget. Stay at home mum Lisa White, 31, raises five children between the ages of three and ten with her partner, David White, 35, at their home in Monmouth, south Wales.
The couple have been relying on Universal Credit and child benefits to get by since David was signed off work due to mental health issues, and currently get around £1,900 a month in benefits. Lisa estimates she’ll get a total of £2,770 a month from April, due to Rachel Reeves’ Budget.
She described the announcement as “very beneficial” for her children. She said it will allow her football-mad son to finally join an after-school club. The two-child benefit cap prevented parents from claiming universal credit or tax credit for their third children onwards, introduced by the Conservatives in 2017.
Lisa described how her family has been scrimping and saving as the cost-of-living has risen, with their food shops for the seven-person household becoming “astronomical”. As a result, until now, Lisa and David had been unable to afford to send their children to any after-school activities, she says.
Lisa said: “The cap being removed will improve my kids’ lives and open so much up for them. Money has been tight since Dave had to leave work, and now the food bill is where the main chunk of our money goes. My son Marley, nine, has really wanted to do football club. Now we’ll be able to pay for him to do that.
“And my daughter Layla, 10, loves dancing – and I can find a dance class for her. She’s amazing at it too. My other three are a bit younger but I’d like for them to do swimming lessons. The cap won’t be massively beneficial for me personally, financially, but it will let me see my children doing things that they love to do.”
Lisa said the cap being removed will bring in approximately an extra £900 for the family. She said it’s been good to see that the children who previously didn’t quality for the benefits have now been “recognised as needing the same support as their older siblings.”
She said: “It will help in the long run – it’s nice to know that we’ll get some extra money to put into our kids’ lives.”
