Salford Insights

Salford Insights: your thoughts on the two-child benefits cap: 

In 2015, the UK government introduced a two-child limit on benefits for families, restricting child tax and universal credit claims for any third or subsequent child born after 2017. The policy aimed to reduce spending and encourage families receiving benefits to make similar financial choices to those in employment. However, critics argue that it has led to an increase in families and children living in poverty. Research indicates that families impacted by the cap lose an average of £3,235 per year, and removing it could lift 250,000 children out of poverty annually at a cost of £1.3bn. In Greater Manchester alone, around 89,270 children were directly affected by the cap in 2022. Senior policymakers in the opposition recently expressed their refusal to lift the cap. Salford CVS seeks to understand the VCSE sector's insights on the policy's impact on city residents and its consequences on their work, inviting anonymous questionnaire responses to assess its effects on families and children in Salford.