‘Scrapping the two-child limit is a huge moral victory, but our social security system still traps families in poverty’

There is much to celebrate today.

After nine years, the two-child limit that pushed millions of children and their families into poverty is finally being lifted. But, however welcome, much more needs to be done to tackle poverty in this country. By the government’s own estimate, it will only affect 450,000 of the 4 million children currently living in poverty in the UK.  

With more than 13 million people living in poverty, the government needs to make fundamental changes to the UK’s social security system, which Amnesty’s research revealed punishes, harms and dehumanises people and perpetuates the deprivation of living standards for those reliant on it. It fails to meet international legal obligations and successive UK governments have ignored UN pleas to take urgent action to fix it and have knowingly made choices that make poverty worse. This has violated people’s basic human rights and moved the UK from a society that supports people to one with a punitive system that drives poverty by policy.  

READ MORE: ‘Ending the two-child limit: A victory for decency—and a turning point for Labour’

Without removing the benefit cap, scrapping the system of devastating sanctions and reducing the waiting time for Universal Credit, the system itself will continue to keep people – including children – in poverty.     

The first of these, the benefit cap, creates and maintains an arbitrary ceiling, which fails to account for regional variations in standards of living and people’s actual costs of living. It particularly affects single parent households, racialised communities and larger families. Leaving it in place will leave many people unable to afford the basics, including food, heating and rent even with today’s change.   

Sanctions – the penalties people face for missing appointments with the job centre – are also a key characteristic of the social security system that clearly contradicts the system’s core purpose to make sure no one lives in poverty and has to go without the essentials. When sanctions are imposed, too often irrationally, adults – including those with children – lose 100% of their Universal Credit standard allowance, causing the immediate loss of income, sometimes for months. This can lead to families being pushed into debt, forced to use foodbanks, and putting their housing at risk  

One mother told us how she was repeatedly sanctioned because she missed her appointments with the job centre because they were at the same time as the school run, As a result she couldn’t pay her rent and ultimately, she and her children were made homeless.  

Sanctions have a devastating effect on people’s health and wellbeing. Over two-thirds of the people we interviewed said it harmed their mental health and nearly half said it made them physically ill. One woman told us of how she was threatened with sanctions if she didn’t attend her appointment even though it was just two days after her baby died. She was told her baby’s death wasn’t their problem and if she needed the money she had to come in regardless. 

Sanctions are not the only way people who depend on social security can be left without money. People, including those with children, have to wait five weeks before their first Universal Credit payment leaving them unable to afford the basics and putting them at increased risk of homelessness and debt by the very system that is supposed to help them keep their heads above water.  

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Poverty in the UK is not inevitable. It is the result of political choices. It has been built into the design of our social security system over time.  

Too often, political debate has slipped into the language of blame. People who need support are portrayed as a burden, and policies are shaped around reducing costs rather than protecting dignity. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit households across the country, people are already making impossible choices. Parents skip meals so their children can eat. Families fall behind on bills to keep a roof over their heads. Others borrow just to afford school uniforms. These are not isolated stories. The government must make choices too. It must prioritise ensuring that no one goes hungry, no one is pushed into homelessness, and no one is forced to live in unsafe conditions. That means strengthening social security so that it protects people, rather than trapping them in hardship. 

The decision to scrap the two-child limit should be recognised for what it is: A hard won and morally significant step forward. But lifting one harmful policy while maintaining others that deepen poverty risks cancelling out that progress. 

The same courage that drove the abolition of the two-child limit must now be applied to the wider system. That starts with ending the benefit cap and scrapping punitive sanctions. Poverty, hunger and homelessness are no longer marginal issues in Britain. They are widespread and visible. The uncomfortable truth is that they persist because of political choices. That means they can be ended by a political choice too. 

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What is needed now is an independent statutory commission – one that will ensure the social security system provides adequate support for all and is rooted in dignity and human rights.

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