Rate of child poverty set to fall over the Parliament, with over half a million children lifted out of poverty thanks to scrapping of two-child limit and expansion of Free School Meals

The package of measures announced in the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy – including the abolition of the two-child limit on benefit support and an expanded Free School Meals offer – will result in child poverty rates falling in 2026-27, the first time in nine years (outside the pandemic), the Resolution Foundation said today (Friday).

The Foundation estimates that policies in the strategy will lift more than half a million children out of poverty by 2029-30 than would otherwise be the case without those policies. It estimates 425,000 fewer children living in poverty by 2029-30 from the lifting of the two-child limit and a further 80,0000 from the expansion of Free School Meals.

But although the welcome announcements in today’s Child Poverty Strategy – including greater support for families living in temporary accommodation and expanded childcare for parents on Universal Credit – begin to turn the tide on child poverty, they are still working against other economic forces and policy choices that, in the Strategy’s absence, would serve to drive up child poverty over the Parliament.

For example, the freeze in rates of Local Housing Allowance will continue to affect the 1.7 million children living in poor households in the private rented sector.

Overall, taking the measures announced in the Child Poverty Strategy and the latest economic data together, the Foundation forecasts that the rate of child poverty will fall by 1 percentage point, from 32 per cent in 2024-25 to 31 per cent in 2029-30 – equivalent to 300,000 fewer children growing up in poverty by the end of the Parliament.

Lindsay Judge, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation, said:

“The Government deserve credit for beginning to turn the tide on child poverty and getting rates falling for first time in nine years (outside of the pandemic). This Strategy should be celebrated for setting out a plan to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty over the course of the Parliament.

“We have long-called for the abolition of the two-child limit which unfairly penalises larger families, the vast majority of whom are in work, have very young children, or disabilities in the family. Repealing it is the right decision, and the Government should be praised for doing so despite fiscal constraints.

“But other child poverty headwinds remain, not least the continued freeze in Local Housing Allowance which risks further squeezing the living standards of poorer families living in the private rented sector.”