Two-child limit on UK welfare benefits ‘has failed to push parents into jobs’

Exclusive: Policy misunderstands realities of caring roles and has left hundreds of thousands of families in poverty, study finds

The UK’s controversial two-child benefit limit, which restricts welfare payments to larger families in an attempt to force parents to get a job, has failed to increase employment levels – but it has left hundreds of thousands of households in poverty, according to the first study of its kind.

The government introduced the two-child limit in 2017, arguing that removing eligibility for benefits worth £3,000 a year per child for a family’s third and subsequent children would “incentivise” parents to move into work, or work more hours to make up the difference.