Paul Nowak column: ‘Let celebrate this historic step on child poverty – and follow it with work and childcare reforms’

Amid the storm of post-budget fallout and blame games, it’s important not to lose sight of the huge victory on the two-child benefit cap. This will be one of the most significant decisions the Government takes this Parliament.

Since the two-child limit was introduced eight years ago, it has pushed 350,000 children into poverty.  Scrapping it will lift 450,000 children out of poverty over the next four years.

Those are kids who will now have enough to eat, live in a warm home, and have access to the essentials like clothes that fit as they grow.

When the likes of Kemi Badenoch or the right wing press cry foul about ‘benefits street’, or say the money to lift the cap is a transfer from work to welfare, they’re not only insulting, they’re also wrong.

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Kids used to be trapped in poverty because their parents couldn’t find a job – nowadays most kids in poverty have a parent in work. In fact, sixty per cent of the families who will benefit will have at least one parent who works. For too many people work doesn’t pay. They’re doing the right thing, but still can’t make ends meet – a crisis that got much worse under the Tories.

That’s why, while scrapping the two child benefit cap is a huge first step, the child poverty strategy must go further. Making work well paid, secure and flexible enough to meet a family’s needs will be critical to reducing child poverty.

The minimum wage has been essential in driving up pay for those at the sharp end, and it’s great the Government raised the minimum wage again this year. But as well as raising the ‘floor’ of pay, workers need the chance to get on and rise up the ranks and pay grades – that means better training at work and, in particular, support for union-led initiatives to upskill and retrain.

Insecurity at work leaves families not knowing how much money they will bring in from one week to the next – difficult for anyone, but impossible if you’re trying to budget and plan for kids. Insecure work is now a daily reality for four million UK workers – and precarity usually comes with low pay. Half of new parents who ask for flexibility at work are told no. The Employment Rights Bill brings a sea change for secure and flexible work. As the details get thrashed out, trade unions will be keeping a close eye to make sure insecure workers are given the things that make a real difference to their security – like regular working patterns and proper notice of shifts.

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And the other part of the puzzle is childcare. If we want parents, and particularly mums, to get into work and increase their hours, they need someone to look after the kids at home. The current childcare system does little to benefit the poorest families. We need to make sure that help is getting to those who need it, and that childcare and early years workers are valued and recognised as the professionals that they are.

Helping families out of poverty is not only right, it’s good for our economy. Child poverty costs us £40bn a year. Just look at the direct link between the huge rise in young people out of work at the moment, and the Conservative cuts to welfare and Sure Start just when those same people were growing up.

So let’s celebrate the win on the two-child limit. This is a huge victory – it will help so many make ends meet, and rectify a cruel injustice. But we must also do more to make work pay, ensure there is a safety net for those who need it, and show that our economy is better off if kids have the chance to succeed from the start.

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