Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has issued an impassioned plea to the government and Keir Starmer’s Labour party to scrap the two-child limit on benefit payments to families, branding it as a cruel and immoral policy that plunges hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.
The intervention by the head of the Church of England will place particular pressure on Starmer to make a firm commitment to end the policy, which he has so far refused to do, as he tries to position Labour as being responsible with the public finances.
With senior New Labour and United Nations figures also calling for action, Welby told the Observer: “The two-child limit falls short of our values as a society. It denies the truth that all children are of equal and immeasurable worth, and will have an impact on their long-term health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.
“Shamefully,” he added, “children from ethnic minorities and homes where someone is disabled are most affected.
“Children should grow up in families and households where they can flourish and be supported to find their place in the world. Yet the two-child limit prevents many from accessing the resources they need.
“This cruel policy is neither moral nor necessary. We are a country that can and should provide for those most in need, following the example of Jesus Christ, who served the poorest in society. As a meaningful step towards ending poverty, and recognising the growing concern across the political spectrum, I urge all parties to commit to abolishing the two-child limit.”
He said that the Feeding Britain charity, of which he is president, had found that “families affected by the policy are twice as likely to use food banks as those which are not”.
Writing in today’s Observer, the bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, who is the church’s spokesperson on child poverty in the House of Lords, said the policy, drawn up by George Osborne and introduced in 2017, “is as short-sighted as it is unfair”.
“Ending it, and so immediately lifting half a million children above the breadline, should be a priority.”
Under the two-child limit, families with a third or subsequent child born after April 2017 do not receive additional benefits related to those children. The policy has received searing criticism from senior Labour figures, with deputy leader Angela Rayner calling it “obscene and inhumane”, and shadow cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth describing it as “heinous”. However, Starmer said last summer he was “not changing that policy” if Labour won power.
When announcing his first six steps in government last week, Starmer made no direct mention of the fight against poverty. He instead focused on the need for economic stability.His party has, however, promised to introduce a wide-ranging strategy to tackle poverty if it comes to power.
It comes as the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights warned that there were now “alarming” levels of child poverty in the UK and called for sweeping action. Olivier De Schutter said the situation was now “a major concern”.
He told the Observer that universal credit currently had “major deficiencies” that were leading to families requiring temporary accommodation that proved far more costly to the state. He criticised political leaders for failing to act on a report from his predecessor, Philip Alston, who warned in 2019 that the UK’s “austerity experiment” had left ministers in a state of denial about poverty.
He added that universal credit payments were too low and had not been increased since 2016, and more than half of the beneficiaries were having their payments reduced, in particular to pay back debts.
“Access to employment does not protect from being at risk of poverty,” De Schutter said, warning that the minimum wage, which is now £11.44 an hour, also remained too low.
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Senior figures from the New Labour years are also calling for action more generally on child poverty. Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, has been leading the charge for immediate action on child poverty and the reintroduction of Sure Start centres designed to help families in poorer areas. “It is the social crisis,” he said. “And I don’t think people have woken up to the scale of poverty that is affecting children.”
Alan Johnson, the former health secretary, said: “Political priorities change over the years but Labour exists to eradicate poverty and establish a more equal society. Tackling child poverty makes a contribution to both objectives. I doubt it can be done without getting rid of the two-child limit on benefits.”
David Blunkett, the former work and pensions secretary, said dramatically reducing child poverty was an “essential part of social democratic values”. However, he warned that simply increasing welfare was not the whole answer.
“As in 1997, there has to be reciprocation – ‘something for something’ – which links massively improved opportunity for well-paid work with a return to Sure Start, substantial family support and tackling intergenerational disadvantage,” he said.
“However, simply increasing benefits on its own is not only historically a loser with the electorate, but it misses the point of a holistic programme which is more than cash transfer.”
A government spokesperson said: “Our £108bn cost of living package prevented 1.3 million people, including 300,000 children, falling into absolute poverty following the heightened cost of living pressures driven by the war in Ukraine and impact of Covid.
“With absolute child poverty down since 2010, we continue to support those most in need, increasing benefits by 6.7% last month, boosting the national living wage and cutting taxes while driving down inflation.”
