ALMOST a quarter of families with three children experienced food insecurity last month, as research published today revealed the impact of the two-child benefit cap.

The Food Foundation said its survey of more than 6,000 adults shows action is desperately needed to relieve the pressure on families across Britain who are going hungry.

It found that 14 per cent of households have experienced food insecurity, having to reduce or skip meals because they could not afford food.

This was higher for households with children, with 18 per cent experiencing food insecurity compared with 12 per cent of those without.

The charity said the findings also demonstrate the impact of the two-child benefit limit, which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

Some 23 per cent of families with three children and 26 per cent of families with four or more children experienced food insecurity, according to the survey.

This week seven Labour MPs were suspended by the party after backing an SNP motion to scrap the policy, first introduced by the Tories in 2015, in a vote in Parliament on Tuesday.

Labour cited spending controls as a reason for not being able to immediately ditch the policy.

The government’s new Child Poverty Taskforce to tackle the root causes of poverty has been welcomed by the Food Foundation, but the charity said that the “immediate action that is so desperately needed to relieve the families across the UK who are going hungry was sorely lacking in the King’s Speech.”

Shona Goudie, policy and advocacy manager at the foundation, restated the call for the cap to be scrapped and said there are other measures the new government can take, including ensuring wages and benefit levels cover the costs of essentials.