Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon has called on the Government to scrap the two child benefit cap.
This controversial policy, that is widely considered to be holding many children down in poverty, was introduced by the Conservatives, but kept in place by the Labour government last year, despite previous promises to repeal it.
Tom spoke during a debate in Parliament yesterday (26th February) on the state of the Child Maintenance Service, which has faced funding issues.
Since his election, Tom said he has had a number of constituents contact him having had issues with the Child Maintenance Service, including not being paid on time or in full, or being overpaid and forced to pay money back.
In response to Tom's question, the Minister (Andrew Western MP) said that the Government was looking at a range of options to raise more children out of poverty, including potentially scrapping the two child benefit cap.
Tom said:
“Yesterday I raised a hugely important issue. The two child benefit cap has held hundreds of thousands if not millions of children down in poverty. It’s a travesty that in a country as wealthy as Britain we have millions of children in poverty.
“It’s encouraging that the Government is indicating it is considering scrapping the cap. But they must go all the way and scrap it once and for all. We must ensure that we aren’t failing our children.
“I will continue to fight for our children to be properly invested in and supported, until none of our children are forced to grow up in poverty.”
The cap is widely blamed for increasing child poverty in the UK, with around 4.3 million UK children said to be living in poverty – around 30% of all children,
The cap was first introduced by David Cameron’s Government, who claimed it would discourage families claiming benefits from having more children.
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