Two-Child Benefit Cap

The ALBA Party Fundamentally Opposes The Callous Tory Two-Child Benefit Cap

This cap was introduced by the Conservative UK Government in April 2017 and stops parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for any more than two children.

The bill includes the contemptible ‘rape clause’, where women must disclose if their child was the result of rape, or an abusive or coercive relationship, to be eligible for benefits for that child.

The policy is counterproductive for Scotland which has an ageing population and a falling birthrate. We should be doing all we can to support children and families to thrive and contribute to Scotland’s future prosperity.

In Scotland, more than 80,000 children live in households affected by this policy. Mitigating it would lift 30,000 Scots out of poverty including 20,000 children.

The ALBA Party has consistently argued that every child in Scotland deserves the best start in life and is committed to combatting child poverty as demonstrated by our 5-point plan

When ALBA Party Leader, Alex Salmond, was First Minister he mitigated the Tory Bedroom Tax and to this day no Scot is penalised. We call on the Scottish Government to follow in his example by mitigating the cap by utilising its existing social security powers to boost payments to large families.

Alternatively, the Scottish Government could increase funding to councils ringfenced for discretionary housing payments and/or provide mitigation through an extra Council Tax Credit. This would cost £85 million which amounts to just 0.17% of the total Scottish Government budget.