Hackney Foodbank welcomes scrapping of two-child benefit cap

Hackney Foodbank welcomes the Government’s decision to put an end to the two-child benefit limit.

Introduced in 2017, the cap meant families could only claim Universal Credit for their first two children.  Hackney Foodbank has been part of Trussell’s campaign to end the policy and allow benefits to be paid for all children in the household. We joined the campaign at Westminster this summer to lobby MPs.

Trussell estimate that lifting the cap will pull 470,000 children in the UK out of severe hardship.

Jenna Fansa of Hackney Foodbank said: “For our food bank and the families we support, the decision to end the two-child benefit limit on Universal Credit is a huge relief.  All children deserve a good start in life, yet thousands live in households which struggle to put food on the table.  Hackney has the second highest level of deprivation among children in England – 64 per cent of children here live in income-deprived homes.  We’re hopeful the changes in April will lift many of those children out of poverty and stop more being drawn into it.”

It's estimated that 560,000 families in the UK will benefit from the change, gaining an average of £5,310 per year.

Jenna added: “We hope that will mean families will be able to afford the essentials: food, hygiene products, warmth and a suitable home, allowing people to live with dignity and giving children a better start and we hope it will reduce the pressure on food banks like ours.”

Also announced in the budget were plans to increase the National Minimum Wage (up by 50p to £12.71 an hour for over 21s, by 85p to £10.85 for 18-20 year-olds and by 40p to £8 per hour for under 18s and apprentices).

Jenna added: “Many of the people supported by Hackney Foodbank are in work - some have multiple jobs to try to get by. Two our food distribution centres are open in the evening to enable us to reach the large numbers of working poor. Wages and benefits have failed to keep pace with high rents and rising living costs, so any increase in minimum wage will help – though we’d like to see more companies choosing to pay the London Living Wage, which reflects the higher cost of living in the capital.”