Two-child benefit limit has no significant impact' on youngster's early development

"Scrapping the controversial two-child benefit limit would reduce child poverty but not necessarily help with a youngster's early development and their readiness for school, a new report has suggested. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) concluded that the policy, which anti-poverty campaigners have repeatedly criticised, has no statistically significant impact on the proportion of children in England achieving what is known as a good level of development by age five."

"The government is expected to publish a strategy to tackle child poverty this autumn, and has been under pressure to scrap the policy, including from former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown and the Church of England's current most senior bishop, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell. The two-child limit was announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect in 2017. It restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households."

Scrapping the two-child benefit limit would reduce child poverty but not necessarily improve young children's early development or school readiness. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) concluded the policy has no statistically significant impact on the proportion of children in England achieving a good level of development by age five. The government is expected to publish a child poverty strategy this autumn and has faced pressure to scrap the limit from figures including former prime minister Gordon Brown and Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell. The two-child limit was announced in 2015, came into effect in 2017, and restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children. Charities estimate more than 100 children a day are pulled into poverty because of the policy.

Read at www.independent.co.uk