How Oldhamers will benefit from the lifting of the two-child benefit cap

Around 10,000 kids will benefit from the lifting of the two-child benefit cap in Oldham, according to the local authority. 

The borough currently has areas with some of the highest levels of child poverty in the North. Around half the kids in the borough  – around 30,000 in total – are estimated to be living in deprivation. 

In areas such as Coldhurst, two in every three children (66pc) come from families that are struggling to make ends meet. 

The two-child benefits cap, which stopped parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children, has played a role in national child poverty levels, according to most Greater Manchester MPs and more than a hundred charities. 

But today, Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the government would finally be lifting the policy as part of her budget announcements. 

New government data shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service indicates the change could lift around 6,020 children in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, and around 4,910 children in the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency out of poverty. 

Responding to the budget announcements, Oldham Council boss Cllr Arooj Shah said: “For too long families in Oldham have been devastated by the cost of living crisis. Ending the two child limit will be life changing for thousands of families who have been pushed to the brink. 

“It means fewer parents skipping meals so that their children can eat. It means fewer kids going to school hungry. It means dignity for families who have fought to stay afloat. No child’s future should be limited because of the future they were born in.”

Debbie Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, has also welcomed the change, though she warned that a ‘comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy needs to go much further’.  

In a joint statement released with MP Helen Hayes, the two chairs of the Education Committee and Work and Pensions Committee said: “Removing the two-child limit is very welcome. It will almost immediately lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and stop even more being drawn into it. 

“The policy was directly linked to damaging the opportunities of a generation of children, who were dragged into poverty through no fault of their own. The fact that nearly three-quarters of children living in poverty are from working families is rarely said.

“However, many families will very quickly come up against the benefit cap which puts a maximum limit on the benefits a working-age household can receive. Cash support through the social security system is essential to alleviate poverty but the comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy needs to go much further and wider, involving all government departments.”