Starmer hails child poverty strategy as a ‘moral mission’ which will include measures to help with childcare and getting families out of temporary housing
Poverty charities have reacted positively to the plan, which was originally intended for spring but then delayed as the government wrestled with the fiscal and political repercussions of removing the two-child limit.
The abolition of that cap will cost the government £3bn but lift at least 425,000 children out of poverty, according to external estimates. The suite of other new measures will help at least another 80,000.
The government “has put its money where its mouth is on the manifesto commitment to reducing child poverty”, said Katie Schmuecker of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, saying that the removal of the two-child limit was “the single most effective policy decision” ministers could have made in tackling child poverty.
Lynn Perry, the chief executive of Barnardo’s, said she welcomed the plan, adding: “Whist this is a landmark moment, we must also remember that even with these important changes, close to four million children are still set to be living in poverty in 2029. We must work together as a society to change this.”
