Child poverty activists in the North East have warned there is “no route” out of the North East’s destitution crisis without an end to the two-child benefit cap.

The new government has been urged to make scrapping the controversial limit a top priority for a promised national child poverty strategy, after new figures revealed a growing number of families being affected by the policy.

The cap prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children and its removal has been identified by campaigners as among the biggest changes that could lift struggling households out of poverty.

Numbers from the Department for Work and Pensions confirm that, as of April 2024, around 19,000 North East families were affected by the two-child limit – up from 17,550 the year before.

The North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC) has now warned that axeing the two-child limit is necessary if Labour’s efforts to raise living standards are to be meaningful.

But new Chancellor Rachel Reeves refused to commit to doing so on Thursday, telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she was “not going to make spending commitments without being able to say where the money is going to come from”.

The NECPC warned that the cap can leave younger children missing out on up to £66 per week in support that their older siblings receive and that around 62,000 babies, children and young people throughout the region are now living in families disadvantaged by the policy.

Its chair, Beth Farhat, said: “We have warmly welcomed the new Government’s commitment to introduce an ambitious national child poverty strategy. This is desperately needed, and it must recognise the importance of investing more of our nation’s wealth in children and families now, so that they can access opportunities both today and in the future.

“It must also be evidence-led, and it is increasingly clear that there is no route to ending child poverty – either in the North East or across the UK – that does not involve scrapping the two-child limit. 

“The new Government must make this an early priority, if its child poverty plan is to be as meaningful as tens of thousands of kids growing up now in the North East need it to be.”

Speaking on a visit to the Treasury’s office in Darlington, Ms Reeves said that Labour governments “have always reduced child poverty” and this one would be no different.

Recommended reading:

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Get access for 4 months for just £4, or get 40% off an annual subscription with our latest offer. Click here.

However, she added: “We are going to publish our own child poverty reduction strategy and it will be at the heart of what we do as a government. But I have also been really clear that I am not going to make spending commitments without being able to say where the money is going to come from – that is the route to economic ruin.

“We saw that with the Conservatives’ mini-budget just under two years ago where they made a load of unfunded commitments and all that ended up happening was that you did not get any of those commitments realised but you did get a massive increase in mortgage rates, which have hit hard-working families with higher mortgages and higher rents as well.

“As Chancellor of the Exchequer, I will make sure that the numbers always add up. But, of course, I care passionately about reducing child poverty. It is a stain on our country and we will publish a child poverty reduction strategy to do just that.”