More than 67,000 households in London were impacted by the two-child benefit cap in the year to April. A total of 109,800 households were in receipt of Universal Credit Child or Tax Credit.
Almost two-thirds of those, 67,170, were impacted by the two-child cap. If the new Labour government were to scrap the cap, which Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to do, they could take home more money.
Joseph Howes, Chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition and CEO of Buttle UK said: “The two-child limit just has to go. If the aim is to reduce child poverty, there is no way for the new Labour government to keep this policy in place when the evidence shows that the number of children impacted is increasing year on year.
“Children living in poverty cannot wait any longer – this shameful policy must be scrapped, the time for action is now.”
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Hackney was the borough most heavily impacted by the cap. A total of 3,500 Hackney households missed out on benefits as a result of having more than two children. That works out as 67 per cent of those claiming Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit.
That’s the joint second-highest percentage in the country.
Tower Hamlets had the highest number of affected households in London with 4,200, which works out as 66 per cent.
By contrast, just 57 per cent of claiming households were affected by the cap in Kensington and Chelsea (390 in total) and Westminster (850 in total). For four other boroughs the ratio was 58 per cent – Camden, Lambeth, Merton, and Richmond
Check the figures in your area of London in our interactive widget below:
Vale of White Horse in Oxfordshire has the highest proportion of impacted households in the country.
A total of 990 households in the area claim either Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit. Some 690 of those (69%) are impacted by the per cent cap. Salford and Stirling have the joint next-highest ratios at 67 per cent each, alongside Hackneuy.
A further 11 local authorities have 66 per cent of households impacted – Lincoln, Epping Forest, Fenland, Tower Hamlets, Maidstone, Medway, Swale, Tonbridge and Malling, Tewkesbury, East Ayrshire, and Torfaen.
