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  "path": "/2026/04/06/parents-say-end-two-child-benefit-cap-means-can-afford-school-uniforms-27872532/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-06T11:48:24.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "Politics",
    "British Government",
    "Parenting",
    "Rachel Reeves",
    "Universal Credit",
    "officially comes to an end",
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    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Parents said the policy change would mean they could afford for their kids to join school trips (Picture: Getty Images)\n\nFamilies on Universal Credit no longer face a benefit cap based on how many children they have, as the two-child limit officially comes to an end today.\n\nFor many parents across the UK, the impact on their kids’ lives will be immediate.\n\nThat may be especially true for working families, who make up approximately 59% of the people who were affected by the limit according to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).\n\nKayleigh* became pregnant with her and her husband’s third child while both were in work, but she said her stable job ‘was taken away from me when I became ill’.\n\nShe continued: ‘We’d had a plan, everything was in place with the money to be a self-supporting, three-child family but my health meant that one day I was working and the next day I was not.’\n\nThe extra money ‘is going to change a lot’ for the family, Kayleigh said: ‘My youngest might even be able to have a school uniform in September that isn’t an ink-stained hand-me-down.’\n\n##  Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?\n\nMetro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight, in **Metro** 's politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.\n\nJoanna*, who also has three children, stopped working because one of them has special needs and needed more support.\n\nShe said: ‘There’s a lot of rhetoric out there, but life isn’t black and white, your situation could change tomorrow.\n\n‘This is one thing that will actually make a real difference to children who shouldn’t have to worry about whether they’ll be on the school trip or whether they’ll have school uniform.\n\n‘It will give us a bit of a breathing space, just knowing that with school trips coming up, it’ll be ok, and I can pay off some school dinner money debt.’\n\nRachel Reeves confirmed the change at last year’s Budget (Picture: House of Commons/AFP via Getty Images)\n\nThe end of the two-child benefit cap became a hot-button political issue following Labour’s return to power in July 2024.\n\nIt was not mentioned as a pledge in the new government’s first King’s Speech – and a number of Labour MPs were suspended for saying it should have been.\n\nBut at last year’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced she would be taking the step as a means of alleviating child poverty, saying she would not ‘preside over a status quo that punishes children for the circumstances of their birth’.\n\nThe move was met with fierce opposition from the Conservatives, who initially introduced the cap during the coalition years.\n\nLeader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘While working people struggle with rising fuel costs and food prices, Keir Starmer is giving another handout to those on benefits.\n\n‘The Conservatives believe in fairness and that those on welfare should have to make the same choices about their family as those who aren’t.\n\n‘That’s why we would reinstate the two-child cap and use the savings to bolster our armed forces.’\n\nTory leader Kemi Badenoch has said she would bring back the limit (Picture: Lucy North/PA Wire)\n\nReform UK initially supported the removal of the limit, with leader Nigel Farage saying his party wanted go ‘much further to encourage people to have children’.\n\nHowever, the party changed its position this year after top Conservative Robert Jenrick defected and became Reform’s Treasury spokesman.\n\nCPAG estimated the limit would have impacted 2.2 million children, 1.7 million of them in poverty, by the time it was fully rolled out in 2035.\n\nAlison Garnham, the chief executive of the charity, described it as ‘one of the nastiest policies for children in modern times’.\n\nShe added: ‘Its removal is a ray of hope for the families affected and a first essential step towards ensuring every child has a fair start.’\n\n**_*Names have been changed_**\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Parents say end of two-child benefit cap means they can afford school uniforms"
}