‘You want it to be magical for your kids’: Here’s how the two-child benefit cap is ruining Christmas

Megan’s 10-year-old daughter has tallied up the cost of the toys on her Christmas list.

“She’s rewritten it a few times, she’s still not given it to me yet. I found it while I was tidying her room,” says Megan, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. “She’s gone through it and added up how much things would cost. She’s written on it: ‘I know I don’t need to get everything, because it costs a lot of money.’

“There’s so much sort of magical naivety when they’re young, and you want Christmas to be magical for them. But I think she’s starting to pick up on my stress, a little bit.”

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Money is tight for Megan and her three children, aged one, five and 10. The single mother works part-time, but her epilepsy and other health conditions make it difficult for her to pick up extra hours at the school for high-needs children in the north of England where she works. It’s “constant stress” to make ends meet – particularly as Christmas approaches. 

“I’d love to have a magic wand and wave away my health issues so I could work more, but then again I’d still have the cost of childcare,” she says. “I’m taking it day by day at the moment.”

Megan’s children are among the more than 1.6 million impacted by the two-child limit on benefits, also known as the two-child benefit cap. Under this Tory-era policy – currently maintained by the current Labour government –  families can only receive universal credit and tax credits for their first two children, though they still receive child benefits from the Department of Work and Pensions.

Families who have a third or subsequent child after April 2017 are denied up to £3,235 per year per child compared with families whose kids were born before this date.

“I think there’s still a stigma and an opinion that people on benefits just keep having children, and that it pays for them to have children,” Megan says. “That’s really not the case.”

Earlier this year, Megan told the Big Issue she was worried about providing for her three kids. Things have only gotten more difficult since then.

“Bills cost so much, food, everything,” she says. “I just wish that [politicians] could, with their families, live for a year on, like, the baseline universal credit. Live with the [two-child] limit. And see how they cope.”

When the two-child cap on benefits was introduced, the Conservative government said it wanted people on welfare “to make the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work”.

But the policy has long drawn widespread condemnation from charities. Dan Paskins, executive director of policy at Save the Children, described it as “needless and cruel”.

“All families find the financial expectations around Christmas and prospect of energy bills in colder months a challenge. This is the third year of the cost of living crisis and exceptionally hard times have become the new normal,” he added.

“Yet imagine being one of the 1.6 million children impacted by the two-child limit to benefits. This rule means there is simply less money to go around, which in turn means less food, clothes, warm coats, toys and books.”

According to HMRC around 57% of families impacted by the two-child cap on benefits already have at least one parent in work.

Like Megan, Thea is among this tally. The sole breadwinner and carer for her three children, she wishes she could treat them to something special this Christmas – but money won’t stretch that far.

“[if money was no issue] I would love to take my kids to a pantomime or something,” she says. “But I’m just focusing on getting through the holiday period.”

Thea’s net income of £2,600 per month “should be enough to cover things” – but rent for the family’s one bedroom apartment in London is £2,000 pounds per month, and nursery bills cost an additional £3,000.

“I get about £2,500 a month from universal credit. So I’m basically working with, let’s say, £5,000 a month,” Thea said. “But £5,000 only covers rent and nursery. There’s also energy bills, council tax, food and other things the kids need. So it’s a really tricky situation. It’s so scary, you know?”

There are more than 4.3 million children living in poverty across the UK. In October, the government published its tackling child poverty policy paper, promising to address “systemic drivers” of poverty such as housing and employment. 

The strategy does not mention the two-child benefit cap. Yet according to Paskins, the policy is the “single biggest driver” of childhood destitution.

“Families have been brave enough to share their stories of hardship at Christmas with the Big Issue,” he said. “It’s now time for the UK government to show the same bravery and scrap this rule. it is unacceptable for it to continue.”

According to the Child Poverty Action Group, ditching the two-child limit would lift 300,000 children out of poverty and mean 700,000 children are in less deep poverty.

The priority, Thea says, should be these children. Politics should take a back seat.

“Instead of trying so hard to send a message to adults who are supposedly defrauding the benefits system, the priority should be the kids. It will have an immediate impact on the kids,” she said. “Not just giving them the things they need. But it will give their parents the headspace to love them the way we want to.”

Meghan echoes this sentiment. She’ll be doing everything she can to make Christmas special for her children this year. The money she currently loses to the two-child limit would make a “huge” difference. 

“I’m in tunnel vision, just trying to get through December,” she said “Kids tend to remember Christmas… I don’t want them to remember money stress.”

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