Keir Starmer's government has launched its full child poverty action plan, centred on lifting the two-child benefits cap announced in last week's budget. From April, families will be able to access welfare payments for more than two children, reversing a Tory policy introduced in 2017 that had pushed over 1.7 million children below the poverty line.
With roughly 4.5 million children in the UK living in poverty in 2025, including two million in households unable to afford essentials like food, housing and heating, Labour's commitment has been welcomed by parents, charities and case workers. The plan also includes measures to make it easier for parents on Universal Credit to access upfront childcare costs, an £8 million pledge to move families out of bed and breakfast accommodation, and a new legal duty for councils to inform schools and doctors when a child enters temporary housing.
Mothers and newborns will no longer be discharged into unsuitable accommodation such as hostels or B&Bs, following 58 baby deaths over five years linked to poor temporary housing. However, critics note the government has not set a binding or statutory target for poverty reduction. Starmer described it as a 'moral mission' for his government, aiming for 'generational change'.
Speaking at a childcare centre in Wales, Starmer called it the 'single biggest initiative taken on child poverty from any government', noting 70,000 children in Wales alone will benefit from scrapping the two-child cap. The plan has been welcomed broadly, though some researchers caution there is 'considerable uncertainty' over the scale of poverty reduction due to economic factors, and many families still cannot access benefits.
