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Two-child benefit cap pushing 109 families a day into hardship – study

22 September 2025
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Dirty hands with small money in palms

A new study involving a researcher at Durham University Business School presents shocking new figures on child poverty.

The Addressing Poverty Update UK Children Dying through Poverty report was co-led by Dr Charmele Ayadurai, an Assistant Professor of Finance, with colleagues at Newcastle University.

What did the study find?

  • Children living in the most disadvantaged areas are more likely to die in intensive care.
  • The number of children living in poverty is projected to rise by 300,000 to 4.8m by 2029.
  • The current UK two-child benefit cap, which prevents households on Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit from receiving child benefit payments for a third of subsequent child born after April 2017, is pushing 109 families per day into hardship.

What does the study recommend?

  • Removing the two-child benefit cap, and making changes to Universal Credit to improve circumstances for 1.5 million children living in poverty.
  • Supporting schools to take no-cost and low-cost actions to reduce the cost of the school day.
  • Working with children, their families, and the wider community to find solutions.
Today, 4.5 million children in the UK endure the harsh realities of poverty – not by accident, but as a consequence of decisions made by those who should have known better. In a nation of abundance, poverty is a tragedy. But wilful ignorance is unforgiveable. As Dickens warned: ‘Beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased’. Let us now be the authors of that doom.
Dr Charmele Ayadurai
Assistant Professor of Finance

The updated report has been released as part of the Child of the North project, a collaboration between the N8 Research Partnership and Health Equity North. It is part of the #ChildrenFirst campaign of reports and recommendations for policymakers.

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