Suella Braverman has called for the Conservatives to "abolish the two-child benefit cap" due to thousands of families losing around £3,200 annually in a dramatic rebuke of her own party's record on the welfare state.
The former Home Secretary is urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to scrap the cap which limits the amount households can claim in benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Introduced in 2017, the cap restricts Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit to the first two children for those born after April 6, 2017 in most households.
This has been slammed by experts who have claimed ending the policy would pull 250,000 children out of poverty.
Writing in The Telegraph, Braverman said: "Abolishing the two-child limit would cost the Government £2.5billion in 2024/25.
"This money could be found by getting more out of work claimants off welfare and back into work, and perhaps introducing some form of means testing for pensioners."
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The ex-Home Secretary has hit out on her Government's welfare policies
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What is the two-child benefit cap?
As part of this policy, Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit claimants cannot get DWP benefit support for a third or additional child born after the April 2017 date.
When rolled in 2017, former Chancellor George Osborne said it was created to "incentivise" parents to start working or take up more hours in their current job.
A child in considered by the Government to be “anyone aged under 16, or a young person aged under 20 who enrolled on, accepted or started full-time non-advanced education, such as A-levels, or approved training before they turned 19”.
Despite controversy surrounding the two-child benefit cap, both the Tories and Labour have promised to keep the policy in place if they win the next General Election.
Are there exceptions to the two-child benefit cap?
Some households with a three or more children may qualify for certain DWP payments depending on their circumstances.
According to charity Turn2Us, families may be eligible for benefits in the following situations:
- When a family has adopted other children in their household
- When families claim Guardian’s Allowance for them or other children in their home
- When the second (or more) child is born in a multiple birth
- When children in a family are the child of one of their children who is under 16 years old
- When children in a households are not their child or stepchild and claimants are looking after them under a Court Order
- When claimants are looking after children as part of an arrangement with Social Services.
- When the child was conceived as a result of rape and the claimant does not live with the perpetrator.
Braverman cited figures from the Resolution Foundation which found that around 400,000 low-income families will lose roughly £3,200 a year due to the benefit cap.
She cited the work of late Labour MP Frank Field to to "eliminate poverty" in Britain and called for the Tories to prioritise this goal going into the election later this year.
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The MP for Fareham was dismissed from her post as Home Secretary during the Cabinet reshuffle in November 2023.
Since becoming a backbencher, Braverman has been openly critical of the Tories record on immigration, security and, now, welfare.
A DWP spokesperson previously told GB News: “There are 1.1 million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared to 2010, including 100,000 children and our £108billion cost of living support package prevented 1.3 million people falling into poverty in 2022/23
“Children are five times less likely to experience poverty if they are living in a household where all adults work compared to those in workless households.