First Labour f up

So a few mps have brought up a conversation what's the big deal?

Are you suggesting that someone called G123456789 might not be entirely on the level :)

Edit: Sorry meant to reply to the poster you were quoting :(

I concur, it's like being back at Uni when they set you a group project with a statement and then state "discuss"

They won’t do it. It’s just back benchers. The Labour Party don’t have the money to do it.

I would prefer it to be means tested and poorer families get more

It's not child benefit. It's the child element of universal credit that's capped.

Noticeable that the OP chucks a poorly thought out/researched post in there, invites everyone to 'discuss' and disappears.

I support this decision. Children are the future and we should be ensuring every child has the best start possible. Why should the children the state refuses to support now have to pay taxes as adults?

I do wish people would learn a bit about how politics and government work. Labour MPs “calling for” something is not the same as it happening. Newspapers and media outlets use it all the time to whip up a story. All it takes is a phone call to the usual suspects asking a leading question, and next MPs are “calling for” something, and people who don’t know any better then get all worked up that something is going to happen. (The same is happening on means testing pensions at the moment, watch out for that one.) Rightly or wrongly Starmer has said, even before the election, that there simply was not the funds to lift the two-child cap on benefits. That is the policy, not what a random couple of backbench MPs say.

I agree. Until whoever is in government addresses the deeper issues in society that lead to people having children they can't afford, the children shouldn't be made to suffer.

Agree wholeheartedly with this.

We need more children. We're below the replacement rate which means there won't be enough people to pay for the pensions and care of the elderly in the future.

We also need parents who work.

Couldn't they lift the cap for parents with 2+ children, who also work (if they're able)?

Disagree. With too many people and a climate crisis, we should not be rewarding big families.

I'd do away with child benefit altogether, but introduce tax relief for childcare. However, I don't know where the money would come from for that!

I don't think the argument that you shouldn't make the child suffer for the acts of the parents really works here, because if someone is that feckless they won't spend the money on their children anyway.

Edited: I am referring to child benefit and not the general benefits cap.

It's got n'owt to do with child benefit OP. I'd suggest you have a read of this too (see below)... you might learn sommat eh.

Government must immediately abolish ‘deeply damaging’ two-child limit, says CPAG
Call from child poverty charity comes as new DWP statistics show a record 1.6 million children in 440,000 families are affected by the policy

If the government is to meet its commitment to tackle child poverty, then it must immediately abolish the 'deeply damaging' two-child limit, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has said.

In a new report, Things will only going get worse: Why the two-child limit must go, published today, CPAG highlights new DWP statistics about the impact of the policy which show that, in April 2024, there were a total of 440,000 households who were not receiving the child element for at least one child, impacting on a total of 1.6 million children.

NB - the DWP points out that the number of households affected by the policy continues to increase as more children have been born since 6 April 2017 (when the policy was introduced) into families with at least two children.

The majority of these households, CPAG says, are living in poverty even though 59 per cent have one or both parents in paid work, and the policy affects every area of children's lives -

it leaves families without the income to meet children’s basic needs such as for food, clothing and heating;
it undermines families’ ability to pay their housing costs;
it hinders families’ ability to pay for childcare costs, preventing them from working more;
it pushes vulnerable families into deep poverty, including families where somebody has a disability and single-parent families;
it negatively affects children’s learning, development and education;
it robs children of the everyday experiences of childhood and time together with their families; and
it harms the mental health of affected parents and children.
Arguing that the government cannot afford not to act if it is to meet its commitment to tackle child poverty, CPAG says -

'The two-child limit creates a deliberate gap between need and entitlement, systematically depriving children of what they need to thrive. As more children are born under the two-child limit every year, the policy will continue to drive up child poverty rates. Scrapping the two-child limit is the most urgent action the new government must take to reduce child poverty. It is also the most cost-effective. It would lift 300,000 children out of poverty and mean 700,000 children are in less deep poverty at a cost of £1.7 billion – helping to ensure that we invest properly in the future of all children.'

For more information, see Things will only going get worse: Why the two-child limit must go from cpag.org.uk

We need more workers but we don't want to pay for them! Oh no, migrants!

That's this country.

Women in chaotic households having multiple children they can’t afford to bring up are not making rational decisions based on how much they might get in benefits. If only it was that simple to impact the choices people make.

The money would be better spent on carers and the pittance they get to care for children with disabilities!!

It’s about £300 per month and they aren’t allowed to earn more that £150 a week (or so) on top of that. It’s disgusting!! Having a child who can not look after themselves and needs so much extra support- to the point the parent can’t work more than a few hours each week, so relies on the carers allowance, is not a choice.

Having a disabled child is so hard emotionally and imo it’s a kick in the teeth to parents of these children that there is no mention of extra support to help them.

Absolutely disgusting.

I bet OP 's sister's neighbour's brother's son is claiming £300k a year in disability benefits for a bad back, too. Or something.

There’s no limit to that benefit, you can claim it for as many kids as you like. It’s the child bit of UC or old tax credits I think which is worth much more than £20 a week.

The way the issue is discussed is misleading.

This was a question in the first press conference and the answer was no

We ended that with Brexit. The migrants that now come from the commonwealth are immigrants and want 2+ children themselves and often aren't healthy.

How is this the "first Labour f up"? Nothing has been decided yet.

I think the 2 child limit on UC child element should absolutely be scrapped. It’ll immediately lift families out of poverty, some LAs still give vouchers for holidays and half terms for food , this would alleviate that need as these families wouldn’t be struggling! It would be transformative for children currently in poverty and struggling

Child poverty costs this country more than the amount saved in benefits.

Seems weird to want your own fictional relatives to live in poverty @G123456789

Funny you have so many relatives with very large families, statistically rare.