Worthing councillors start two-child-benefit-cap petition

The Worthing Community Independents (WCI) group of borough councillors has called on the two newly elected Labour MPs, Beccy Cooper and Tom Rutland, to back the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap.

The WCI called the cap a ‘cruel and morally redundant policy’ saying it ‘consigns many children’ to poverty in Worthing and throughout the UK.

The petition was started on Thursday, July 25, in response to a vote by MPs on Tuesday, July 23, which defeated an SNP amendment calling for an end to the cap.

Worthing West MP Dr Cooper and East Worthing & Shoreham MP Mr Rutland both voted with the government against the amendment, which saw seven Labour MPs have the whip suspended for six months after rebelling.

The petition calls for the two MPs to reverse their position on the policy and ‘publicly write’ to Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for the cap to be ‘immediately abolished’ as part of her first budget.

One of the WCI councillors, Hillary Schan (Ind, Tarring), said in a post on X: “Working in community food support I see daily the direct impact on children this cruel policy has. Whilst food banks in Worthing struggle to keep up with demand, our MPs have let those children down. As the news broke, new Worthing council leader Sophie Cox was assuring me of their commitment to end child poverty. When informed of the news I asked her if she would commit to writing to both MPs – unfortunately no commitment was forthcoming.”

At a full council meeting on July 23, the Labour council leader said on the issue of the two-child cap: “I will be speaking to Beccy and Tom, we know that our local MPs put the needs of our residents first. I’m sure there are reasons why this was chosen to not be included in the first round of commitments by this Labour government, they have already committed to a child poverty strategy. I do believe they will do the right things to take as many children out of poverty as they can.”

The two-child benefit cap was introduced by the Conservative government in 2017 and means parents can claim Universal Credit or child tax credits only for their first two children, and is separate to Child Benefit which can be claimed for any number of children.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates removing the two child cap could cost the government £3.4billion a year, or roughly 3 per cent of the total working age benefit budget.

Government figures show some 1.6-million children are living in households affected by the policy, with the petition stating campaign groups said ending the policy could move a million children ‘away from poverty’.

The petition can be found at www.change.org/p/worthing-mps-petition-to-scrap-the-two-child-benefit-cap.