Two Child Benefit Cap

Hina Bokhari AM proposed and Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM seconded the following motion:

“This Assembly notes:

•  That London has one of the highest rates of child poverty in England with 33% of children in the capital living in poverty, with the figure as high as 48% in some London boroughs such as Tower Hamlets.
• Charities such as Child Poverty Action Group have highlighted how the Two Child Benefit Cap has a disproportionately negative impact on London compared to the rest of the country.
• In some London boroughs, three in ten children live in households affected by the two-child limits.
• Across the UK, 42 per cent of children living in families with three or more children live in poverty.5 The two-child benefit cap has impacted an estimated 1.5 million children.
• A recent report from the Child Poverty Action Group states that the economic and societal effects of child poverty, including spending on public services, costs the UK £39 billion every year.
• That a report by the Child Poverty Action Group estimates that removing the Two Child Benefit Cap would cost £1.3bn a year but would lift 250,000 children out of poverty overnight and result in 850,000 children living in less deep poverty.
• A study by the London School of Economics has found that the Two Child Benefit Cap has seen no positive impact on employment rates or on work hours.

 This Assembly calls for:

• The Mayor of London, alongside the Chair of the London Assembly, to write to the UK Government calling for the Two Child Benefit cap to be removed.
• The UK Government to drop the Two Child Benefit Cap. “

Following debate and upon being put to a vote, the motion was agreed with 13 votes being cast in favour and no votes being cast against.