Thousands of Crawley children affected by two-child benefits limit

The Department for Work & Pensions office in London, as the department has been rebuked by the statistics watchdog over a claim that more than 12,000 households have found work or stopped welfare claims because of the benefit cap.

Thousands of children in Crawley are in families affected by a limit on child allowance benefits, estimates suggest.

The two-child limit restricts child allowances in universal credit and tax credits – worth £2,935 per year – to the first two children in a family unless the children were born before April 6, 2017 when the policy came into force.

The Child Poverty Action Group is calling for the policy – which it says pushes families into poverty – to be scrapped by the Government.

Department for Work and Pensions figures show that 1,020 households with three or more children in Crawley were receiving Universal Credit in April, and 750 received Child Tax Credits – 1,770 in total.

CPAG estimate that this means there are 3,222 children in families affected by the policy – among 1.2 million across Great Britain.

It says the two-child limit is one of the biggest drivers of rising child poverty, and its impact will intensify as living costs surge.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of the charity, said the first instalment of the £650 cost-of-living emergency payment is not enough to stop the policy pushing families deeper into poverty.

She added: "The two child-limit is piling on the pain for affected families.

"One in 12 children are taking the consequences of this brutal policy – their health, development and well-being are being jeopardised.

"If every child matters – not just some – the policy must be abolished."