The two-child benefit cap has ‘no significant effect’ on a third child’s school readiness, according to a new study.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found children affected by the policy had the same level of development at age five as those that were not.
The research calls into question suggestions by Deputy Leader hopeful Bridget Phillipson that the cap could be scrapped – which would cost £3 billion a year.
The cap, introduced by the previous Tory Government, stops families receiving some extra benefits for a third or any subsequent child.
The IFS study used official data from 90,000 children to see how the two-child benefit cap affected their ‘school readiness’.
