Universal Credit - mitigation of the two-child limit: consultation report - easy read

Mitigation of the two-child limit: consultation report: Easy Read

Introduction

Universal Credit is a UK benefit for working people with low incomes. It is also for people who don’t work because of sickness or disability.

Universal Credit has a ‘Child Element’. This is a payment people get for children they look after.

The UK Government’s rules mean that the Child Element is only paid for the first two children in a family.

The Child Element will not be paid for the next child in a family if they were born after 6 April 2017 and there are already two children.

This is known as the two-child cap.

On 4 December 2024, the Scottish Government set out plans to mitigate the two-child cap.

Mitigate means doing something that will make a problem less bad for people.

This would mean making a payment the same as the Child Element for children affected in Scotland.

This would be £292.81 each month.

We asked the public about the plans between February and April 2025.

We got 267 replies to the written questions and 10 people came to speak face to face.

225 of the replies came from individual people and 42 came from organisations like charities working with people affected by the two-child cap.

Question 1: Should Social Security Scotland deliver payments to mitigate the two-child cap in Scotland?

About three quarters of replies said no, Social Security Scotland should not deliver these payments.

Most of the replies that said no were from individuals.

About one quarter said yes, Social Security Scotland should deliver the payments.

Most of the replies that said yes were from organisations working with people affected by the two-child cap.

Some people supported the two-child cap and didn’t want any change. They said:

• People should make choices for how big their family is and tax payers shouldn’t pay for more children

• The government should spend money on other things, like schools, housing or health.

Some people said mitigating the two-child cap might:

• Encourage people to have bigger families
• Make people rely more on benefits and not work

Some people said Social Security Scotland shouldn’t make these payments, but DWP should.

People who agreed that Social Security Scotland should deliver mitigation payments gave different reasons.

People talked about the bad effects of the two-child cap.

People said the mitigation payments could:

• boost the effect of other payments
• help with government plans to reduce child poverty.

Some people said Social Security Scotland should deliver the payments because:

• that would be the quickest and simplest way
• they already have systems to make that payment from Scottish Child Payment.

Some replies that agreed with mitigation payments still had some worries.

Some people wanted to be sure that the money for the payment didn’t mean other services would have less money.

Some people wanted the application to be easy. Some wanted DWP to share information to help with this.

Some people wanted it to be more clear how the payment would work with current DWP rules.

Question 2: Should the Scottish Government use a law (section 79) to top up Universal Credit?

We asked people if the Scottish Government should use a law to make the mitigation payments.

Most people who disagreed were against the payment, not how it was made.

People who didn’t want the payment said so mainly because of costs.

Some people said they don’t like the SNP or Scottish Government.

People who agreed with using a law to top up Universal Credit said this would be the fastest and easiest way.

People said it might help more people to get benefits they are entitled to.

Some people were worried some families wouldn’t get the payment because they don’t get Universal Credit.

Some people said we should take longer and make a system that would make sure no one is missed.

Question 3: Should payments to mitigate the two-child cap be counted as income by the UK Government?

The Scottish Government can make payments that aren’t counted as income for benefits and taxes.

Many people who wanted the payment to be classed as income were against the payments altogether.

Some people said that there are already too few people paying taxes.

Some people said that all pay and benefits should be taxed.

People who didn’t want the payments to count as income said doing so would make the payment worth more.

They also said if it wasn’t disregarded then people getting the payment would lose money off other benefits.

Normally other Scottish benefits are not treated as income.

When we asked people in person, everyone said it should be disregarded.

Question 4: Do you have any information you want to share about potential effects of mitigating the two-child cap?

We asked people if they wanted to give us any more information.

Most people gave general answers based on their feelings about the two-child cap.

Many organisations working with people affected by the two-child cap told us that the two-child cap kept people in poverty.

They also said that it impacted some groups of people more than others, like:

• Women
• Minority ethnic families
• Refugees
• Some religions
• Young parents

The people that we asked in person mostly thought mitigation payments were a good thing.

Some people said that the payments will help people afford:

• Food
• Heating
• Transport
• Clothing

Some people said the payments will help with problems children have in school like:

• Hunger in school
• Attending school
• Concentration in class

People said the payment might have long term good effects from reducing poverty:

• Better outcomes in education
• Better physical and mental health

Some people were concerned that if money is spent on mitigation payments it would be taken away from other areas.

Some people said that mitigation payments might stop people from tackling their own money problems.

Some people said the Scottish Government should still keep asking the UK Government to get rid of the two-child cap.

Conclusion

The replies to the consultation were mostly strongly positive or negative.

Individuals were more likely to disagree with the plans to mitigate the two-child cap.

Organisations working with people affected by the two-child cap were more likely to agree with the plans to mitigate the two-child cap.

People who agreed with the plans still had some concerns that they told us about when we asked.

These included:

• making sure everyone who needs the payment can get it
• being clear about how the payments would work in practice
• making sure there are no bad effects on other services

People said the UK Government should still be encouraged to drop the two-child cap.

The replies to the consultation gave us useful feedback that we consider when making final plans.