Children in Scotland responds to two-child cap Bill
16 September 2025
Scottish MPs will introduce a Private Member’s Bill to the UK Parliament intending to remove the two-child benefit cap. Kirsty Blackman MP will introduce the Bill.
If the Bill passes, the Secretary of State will be required to “publish a child poverty strategy which includes proposals for removing the limit on the number of children or qualifying young persons included in the calculation of an award of Universal Credit”.
What is the ‘two-child cap’
It’s a policy within the UK’s means-tested welfare system that stops extra payments for children beyond the first two. If a child is born after 5 April 2017, the family does not get extra Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit payments for the third (or further) child.
The purpose given is to limit welfare spending, but critics say it increases poverty, especially for larger, low-income families.
What is a Private Member’s Bill?
It is a proposal for a new law put forward by an MP or a member of the House of Lords who is not part of the government, in this case Blackman.
The process is the same as for government bills. MPs can introduce them through a ballot, a ten-minute speech, or by presenting them formally in the chamber. Even if they don’t then become law, these bills are often used to highlight issues, shape debate, and sometimes push the government into acting on the issue it raises.
What does Children in Scotland have to say?
Dr Judith Turbyne, Chief Executive at Children in Scotland, said:
“Levels of poverty in the UK are unacceptable. Recent research from the Trussell Trust found that more than 14 million people in the UK faced hunger in the past year due to a lack of money. In Scotland, 210,000 children live in households which cannot afford consistent access to nutritious food. This has to change. While rates of child poverty in Scotland continue to be high, we know that the Scottish Child Payment has prevented many families from falling into poverty. The Child Payment works as it increases the resources for some of the poorest and most vulnerable families. We, therefore, really support the scrapping of the two-child cap. This could have a transformative impact across the UK.”
Helen Barnard at the Trussell Trust said she had been informed of parents “losing sleep, worrying about how they will pay for new shoes, school trips, keep the lights on or afford the bus fare to work.
She added: “We have already created a generation of children who’ve never known life without food banks. That must change.”
