A group of more than 100 Labour MPs have written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling on her to introduce stricter gambling taxes to help fund the cost of lifting the two-child benefit cap.
“As you prepare for your Autumn Budget, we are writing to encourage you to explore the introduction of a targeted levy on harmful online gambling products, with revenue ringfenced to help address child poverty and related harms,” the letter states.
“We propose this policy as a means to redress the relatively light taxation of online gambling, supporting our shared goals of delivering sustainable public finances alongside improved public health outcomes. Such a policy would support the government’s manifesto pledge to reduce gambling-related harm and enable vital action to alleviate child poverty.”
You can read the full letter here.
The Two Child limit to benefit payments was introduced by the Conservative Government in 2017 and is supported by the current Labour Government. It prevents families from claiming Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for more than two children in the household.
However, there are growing calls to scrap the cap as its seen to widen poverty in some of the country’s most destitute areas. Specific concerns include:
- 1.5 million children in the UK live in households subject to the two-child limit on benefit payments. That is roughly one-in-ten children in the UK.
- In 2023/24 the two-child limit cost families up to £3,235 per child each year.
- There is a strong correlation between families affected by the two-child limit and those who are living in poverty.
- Scrapping the two-child limit would lift 250,000 children out of poverty overnight, and significantly reduce the level of poverty that a further 850,000 children live in.
- Scrapping the two-child limit would cost £1.3 billion, however it is estimated that child poverty costs the economy £39 billion each year.
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