The Chancellor has finally decided to abolish the two-child benefit cap.
This change has been long-standing Liberal Democrat policy and the Liberal Democrat Group at the LGA has long championed this – especially our members on the LGA’s Children, Young People and Families Committee, who have raised this at every opportunity.
“Scrapping the two-child benefit cap will help lift 500,000 children out of poverty”
Figures have shown that an additional 300,000 children have been affected by the two-child benefit cap since Labour took power. I don’t know why it took the Chancellor so long to abolish this awful policy.
Scrapping the two-child benefit cap will help to lift around 500,000 children out of poverty and ease pressures on many lower-income parents, enabling them to provide for their children and allowing councils to target their limited resources for local welfare schemes more effectively.
Also in the Budget, the Government has said it will fund the full cost of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision from within central government departmental spending from 2028/29.
However, while it is positive news that the government has committed to absorbing these SEND costs, this does not address existing deficits, which are pushing many councils to the financial brink. We urge ministers to write off these deficits, ahead of setting out wider comprehensive reform of the SEND system in next year’s schools white paper.