Education unions have warned that poverty continues to “rip through our communities and schools” as they added to growing calls for the Government to ditch the two-child limit.
The unions, school governors and head teachers echoed other campaigners in branding the policy “cruel” and said it must be fully scrapped in the upcoming child poverty strategy.
The strategy was originally expected in spring but has been delayed and is now due this autumn.
Labour has faced calls throughout its first year in Government to scrap the controversial policy, which came in under the Conservatives in 2017 and restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households.
In a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the National Governance Association (NGA), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Education Union (NEU), NASUWT and Unison have warned of the “critical need” to do away with the policy.
They said: “As school leaders, head teachers, governors, teachers and support staff working in schools and academies across England, we are writing to you about the forthcoming government child poverty strategy and the critical need for it to fully scrap the two-child limit policy.
“This poverty-producing policy is harming the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and young people in our classrooms, and we are calling on government to put an end to this this autumn.”
While welcoming measures introduced under Labour, including the expansion of free school meals, breakfast clubs and a cap on branded school uniform items, they argued “these measures alone won’t give ‘every child the best start in life’ or significantly bring child poverty down”.
They said: “No child deserves to live in poverty, full stop. But the educational impact of the poverty that continues to rip through our communities and schools cannot be overstated.
“Poverty is having an adverse impact on children’s ability to learn, with children living in low-income households doing worse on average than their peers at every milestone, and it is making it increasingly hard for educators to carry out their core roles, with 79% of school staff in all roles reporting this.”
They insisted that lifting households out of poverty “must be the cornerstone of this Government’s work”, adding that there is “overwhelming consensus across our sector that this must start with scrapping the cruel two-child limit policy”.
The letter concluded: “The Government cannot claim an ambitious child poverty strategy while any part of this policy remains in place. We work tirelessly every day to protect children from the harms of poverty, but we come together on behalf of the teachers, school leaders, governors and support staff we represent to ask government to meet us in the middle.
“We need bold action that addresses poverty at home, to ensure all children can thrive at school.”
More than 100 Labour MPs recently signed a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares for the autumn Budget, urging her to scrap the limit long blamed for keeping children in poverty.
A Government spokesperson said: “Every child, no matter their background, deserves the best start in life. That’s why our Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
“We are investing £500 million in children’s development through the rollout of Best Start Family Hubs, extending free school meals and ensuring the poorest don’t go hungry in the holidays through a new £1 billion crisis support package.”
