Scottish Government sets date for end of two-child cap in Scotland

The Scottish Government has announced when the two-child cap will effectively end in Scotland.

The social justice secretary said the Westminster policy will be mitigated from March 2 next year – just weeks before the Holyrood election.

Shirley-Anne Somerville said the move will lift 20,000 children out of relative poverty, according to Scottish Government estimates.

The decision was first announced last year but First Minister John Swinney said his government needed time to set up a system to mitigate the cap.

Introduced by the last Conservative UK government, the two-child cap limits benefits in most cases to the first two children born after April 2017.

Labour has been reluctant to end the cap, citing economic reasons, but in May the Prime Minister said he will be “looking at all options” to tackle child poverty, when asked about his intentions on the policy.

Somerville said Scotland cannot wait for a decision at Westminster.

She said: “The Scottish Government has consistently called on the UK Government to end the two-child cap.

“Reports suggest that they are looking at the impact it is having.

“But the evidence is clear and families and Scotland can’t wait any longer for the UK Government to make up its mind to do the right thing and scrap the cap once and for all.

“The two child limit payment will begin accepting applications in March next year.”

She said the policy will begin 15 months after the initial announcement, which she said is the fastest a social security benefit in Scotland has ever been delivered.

She added: “This builds upon the considerable action we have taken in Scotland, including delivering unparalleled financial support through our Scottish child payment, investing to clear school meal debts, and continuing to support almost 10,000 children by mitigating the UK Government’s benefit cap as fully as possible.

“However, austerity decisions taken by the UK Government are holding back Scotland’s progress.

“Modelling published in March makes clear that if the UK Government act decisively on child poverty, they could help to take an estimated 100,000 children out of poverty this year.”

The Scottish Fiscal Commission said the mitigation will cost around £150m next year, before rising to nearly £200 million by the end of the decade.

In March, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned the policy could harm incentives to work because some of the lowest-paid workers could earn more on welfare than in employment.

The move has been welcomed by anti-poverty charities, who have urged the UK Government to scrap the cap, with the Child Poverty Action Group saying the move would lift 350,000 children across the UK out of poverty.