The 2 child benefit cap lift will be cancelled out by the weekly benefit cap

[Pinkbowls]

I keep seeing all this talk about families with 6+ kids “racking it in” if the two-child benefit cap is lifted, and honestly, it’s hogwash. Here’s the reality:

If the Labour government does lift the two-child cap, it will mainly help low-income working families and families who are claiming disability benefits. These households aren’t subject to the cap, so the poorest families and those who genuinely need extra support for a third or fourth child are the ones who will benefit.

For a single adult with two children outside London, the monthly benefit cap is around £1,832 (~£423 per week). In London, it’s higher, about £2,108 per month (~£486 per week).

Now let’s break it down roughly for someone renting privately:

• Assume the standard allowance + personal allowance for the adult + child elements (for 2 kids) = around £1,200–£1,300/month.
• Private rent in many parts of the UK, and especially in London, can easily eat £800–£1,200/month.
• Add council tax support (which helps a bit, but only partially) and you can see that most of the cap is already taken up.

So in reality, lifting the two-child cap doesn’t suddenly create a pile of extra cash. For families on benefits but below the cap, the extra child element for a third or fourth child may only leave a modest amount after rent and council tax.

The idea that parents with 6+ children will suddenly be sitting on a fortune is completely overblown. The system is designed so that the support goes to those who genuinely need it, not to families already comfortably above the threshold.

The main winners of this policy will be:

• Low-income working families who are earning enough to be under the cap and can actually receive the child element for additional children.
• Families claiming disability benefits, who aren’t subject to the cap at all.

It’s important to separate myths from reality: this is about helping the most vulnerable and supporting working families, not about rewarding large families for being on benefits.

I wholeheartedly disagree with you. If you’re having the state fund you should be grateful. Perhaps thats the problem here, a complete lack of appreciation. You’re not automatically entitled to to something just because you live in the uk and if you actually started to compare our benefits system to other countries, perhaps people would start appreciating what they’ve got. Especially if they have enough to live on, which they often do.

If you pay zero rent or council tax get cheaper broadband, phones etc, then yes, I think that it's an amount a 2 adult, 2 child household can manage on. Don't you?

I personally think everyone who can work that receives benefits (not the retired) should work for those benefits. We all think services are poor, so train them up and employ them to support better services. It'll cost no more they stay on benefits, it won't take away jobs if constructed appropriately with safeguards, then we all win and the unemployed might gain some wellbeing benefits too. Many 50yo or so are desperate to go back to work but noone will employ them.

I have no idea why any goverent hasn't put this into play. As a tax payer - currently again taking home less than 50% of my income due to IR35 - I would be more amenable to my taxes supporting beteer services for us all, wouldn't you?

Yeah perhaps they should. Although I pretty sure people are being accused of “depriving the disabled” by having an opinion on this thread with no such mention of the disabled.

I can guarantee that if you simply stopped working tomorrow that the DWP isn’t going to come and hand you £2k a month, no questions asked.

Just read a thread going at the moment where the OP wants to know if she will be ‘entitled’ to UC if she sacks off her job and has another baby…

Tell me you've not rtft without telling me.

I’ve literally seen it a few pages in.

Expect the answer is yes.

noone has said that, and the hyperbole of your post stating people on benefits have to use begging bowls, or the dramatics re having to be grateful to be handed money without having to do anything is why threads like this exist.

The idea of lifting children out of abject poverty disgusts the users of Mumsnet.

They should eat their gruel and be grateful for it, apparently.

What expectation do you have on their own parents to lift them out of poverty?

Yes it might be a good idea to be grateful because with benefits you never know when they’re going to stop.

Gosh you would think no government has given any consideration at all to how to get people off benefits and into work. “Make them do jobs” - wow, genius! No-one has thought of this!

I do not work to lift other people’s children out of poverty. That’s their parents job.

I don't think children should suffer because they have seemingly inadequate parents.

They used to years ago, it was called workfare and was scrapped after a few years I think.

How many children would you allow to starve to death, if it meant you could pay less tax?

Just seen that...it's got to be a wind up??

Yeah, F it, let the kids go hungry right

Why would that not be the parents responsibility?

Yeah see, this thread shows that this kind of argument to shock and embarrass, doesn’t work any more. People have had enough.

I dont think anyone is suggesting claimants need to go on their knees with a begging bowl. But they should be grateful. And its disgusting to suggest that they shouldn't They are living off other people's work. No one has a right or entitlement to anything in life no matter what situation they have been born into. They should check their privilege as they are lucky enough to live in a country that can currently afford to support them and that there is a safety net for everyone. That may not always be the case.

Again, what are the parents doing.?

Perhaps read it again in context.