SCHOOL leaders, head teachers, governors, teachers and support staff have written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging him to “fully scrap” the two-child benefit cap this autumn.
Education unions, school governors and head teachers warned of the “critical need” to do away with the policy as poverty continues to “rip through our communities and schools.”
“The government cannot claim an ambitious child poverty strategy while any part of this policy remains in place,” they said.
“We need bold action that addresses poverty at home, to ensure all children can thrive at school.”
More than 100 Labour MPs recently signed a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares for the autumn Budget, urging her to scrap the limit experts say keep children in poverty.
In the letter published today, the National Governance Association, the National Association of Head Teachers, the Association of School and College Leaders, the National Education Union, NASUWT and Unison said that the “cruel” policy must be fully scrapped in the upcoming child poverty strategy, which has been delayed to this autumn.
The Labour government has faced repeated calls to scrap the controversial policy since coming to power last year.
The Conservatives introduced it in 2017, restricting child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.
The joint letter says: “This poverty-producing policy is harming the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and young people in our classrooms and we are calling on government to put an end to this this autumn.”
They argued measures introduced under Labour, including the expansion of free school meals, breakfast clubs and a cap on branded school uniform items, “alone won’t give ‘every child the best start in life’ or significantly bring child poverty down.
“No child deserves to live in poverty, full stop. But the educational impact of the poverty that continues to rip through our communities and schools cannot be overstated.”
They added that lifting households out of poverty “must be the cornerstone of this government’s work.”
A government spokesperson said: “Every child, no matter their background, deserves the best start in life. That’s why our Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.”
