Rachel Reeves has hinted she will scrap the two-child benefit cap as she prepares to raise billions of pounds with a manifesto-breaking raid on income tax.
In the strongest suggestion yet that she was preparing to expand the availability of child benefits in the Autumn Budget on Nov 26, Ms Reeves said no young person should be “penalised” for having poor parents.
Since 2017, low-income families with three or more children have received the same amount of child support as those with two, but the Chancellor’s comments suggest that could change.
Ms Reeves, in a radio interview on Monday, said: “In the end a child should not be penalised because their parents don’t have very much money. Now, in many cases you might have a mum and a dad who were both in work but perhaps one of them has developed a chronic illness, perhaps one of them has passed away.
“There are plenty of reasons why people make decisions to have three, four children, but then find themselves in difficult times. You’ll also have things like adoption or foster caring. [There are] lots and lots of different reasons why families change shape and size over time.
“And I don’t think that it’s right that a child is penalised because they are in a bigger family through no fault of their own. And so we will take action on child poverty.”
