Scott Compton

Child Poverty Reduction Unit

Good to see a big investment in tackling child poverty from the NE Mayor, an action plan with actual tangible actions and clear measures of progress. Sets a strong example for other local leaders of what can be achieved at this level, while recognising national policy has the biggest role to play.

It's time to scrap the two-child benefit cap – we can't afford not to Whether this government will scrap the two-child benefit cap is regarded as a critical test of its commitment to driving down child poverty.

I have written for the @bigissue.com on the two-child limit and the resurgence of an old debate, is cash or services best for reducing child poverty? I argue social security is not just a short-term fix, but essential to enabling parents to engage with services and promoting good outcomes.

'A year on, children can't wait. Starmer must end the two-child cap now' - LabourList Charity bosses call for Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

One year on from the Child Poverty Taskforce launch, the govt has made strong commitments on free school meals, social housing, family hubs & crisis support. But success hinges on what is to be done on social security this autumn, as per this piece from @cpaguk.bsky.social , us and others

The impact of the two-child limit continues its relentless rise, over 1.6m children & ~40K more than last year (the year-on-year increase was somewhat offset by end of tax credits in April). As the policy is still rolling out, more children will be pulled into poverty every day it remains in place.

This is a message to Keir Starmer.

Almost 40,000 MORE children are missing out on the support they need because of the two-child limit than there were last year.

We urge the UK Government to scrap the two-child limit now.

Write to your MP: bit.ly/3GKJVfS

Humiliation for Starmer as he loses control of Commons The BBC's political editor Chris Mason and chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman on the welfare bill.

Yeah, sorry here's link
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Guardian had something similar.

Concerning to see. The government won't get
child poverty falling on their watch while the two-child limit remains in place. Hope the wrong lessons are not being drawn from the past week...

That would be the wrong conclusion. This isn’t about sticking to plans, it’s about not having good plans to begin with. This policy was terrible from day one. Any commentary should start from there.

Absolutely everything you need to know about Labour's benefits bill Here, in granular detail, Big Issue breaks down absolutely everything you need to know about its benefits bill and reform of welfare.

"It's not just PIP"

I've written an overview of the government's disability benefit plans - covering not just PIP and the Timms review, but also Universal Credit, contributory ESA and statistics around PIP reviews - and what's being voted on when
www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

The good, the bad and the messy • Resolution Foundation This week marks an important moment for this Government’s welfare reform plans: as Parliament prepares to vote on major legislation to make cuts to PIP and UC-Health, the consultation on longer-term c...

As Parliament prepares to vote tomorrow on cuts to PIP and UC-Health, the Govt consultation on longer-term changes to the benefits system also closes.

A thread on the good, the bad and the messy included in the consultation...

www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

Youth Guarantee is still early days and only funded in 8 pilot areas (England only) over the SR period, so only a subset of affected young people will have access to a developed YG offer. Any youth employability provider will tell you that financial stability is crucial to getting YP to engage

Important point!
There's just no policy or moral justification for raising eligibility for UC health to 22. Will hit disabled young people incl. vulnerable care leavers and those living in supported accommodation who need it to cover service costs. Basic UC (already a reduced rate) often not enough

Yes and clearly stuff is underway with the mentioned 1,000 'PtW advisers' and new 'support offer', but unclear e.g how much is redeployment, or where DEAs fit in? Is enough £ there early enough to sort out the v well documented issues in JCP for instance (work coach turnover, lack of specialists)

Though nothing extra in 26/27 when cuts come into effect. Hard to see this meets spirit of promise made last week to frontload support

The problem with softening the criteria a bit is it will still leave plenty of egregious cases excluded, and won't address the central complaint of the amendment that the bill has come forward before employment effects known & before the PIP assessment review and Mayfield Review have reported

Chart showing: Proportion of the population reporting a disability, by age: Great Britain

Amid all the talk about the Government's cuts to health and disability benefits, it's worth pausing to reflect on the backdrop: a large and growing number of adults in the UK are in poor health.

Today we got new high-quality data on the prevalence of mental health conditions across England...

Agreed! Though cant see it flying given how much focus has been on how severely disabling scoring 2pts can be.

Perhaps combining a 3 or 4pt rule with also allowing a higher cumulative score (10, 11 or 12 pts) from 2s? But much too late now for rushed last minute tweaking

Looks like it's just based on the DWP evidence pack, table 2.19 here: 10% score a max 3, 35% score below 3. But definitely unworkable, would still leave e.g people unable to wash below the waist excluded.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821ea...

Though I really don't think that will fly either

Perhaps they may try something like, either meet the 4 point rule OR score 10 or 12 points in total. Current threshold is 8 for standard daily living, so would be tighter than now but not as tight as bill

Morgan McSweeney: Labour’s election fixer draws fire as welfare rebellion looms Chief of staff to UK prime minister argues government needs to head off Nigel Farage by leaning to the right

Brilliant piece on the swirling discontent around Morgan McSweeney by @pickardje.bsky.social, @georgewparker.bsky.social and @annasophiegross.bsky.social:

In practice I think many UC health claimants will be able to work quite a lot of hours and still receive some UC (why the work allowance really matters!). But fair bit of evidence that the UC rules here are not well understood and the fear of falling out the system is pervasive

On the avaliable details that seems to just be about legislating that moving into work won't by itself trigger a reassessment or PIP review, which is already current practice.

Another aspect I've not seen mentioned much is the impact that having two different rates for UC health will have on work incentives for *current claimants*. Gov says it wants to ease fear of trying work, but many must now worry about risk of coming back onto UC later on much less generous terms

The 4 point rule will overwhelmingly affect older people with musculoskeletal conditions. Only 19% of claimants with ADHD as the primary condition are at risk of losing the daily living component, because despite the high bar they are more likely to score higher & many will have multiple conditions

I think the UC freeze requires primary legislation due to disapplying the bit of the 1992 Social Security Act that requires annual uprating for disability related benefits. Timetable presumably driven by needing to have that in place in time for the annual uprating order process in November

The FFT is a valuable ongoing source of data on family finances since Covid. June 2025 edition shows 40% of households with 3+ children struggle to pay for food and other essentials.

V interesting analysis. Look forward to reading in full

So you have a situation where a plurality of voters and a majority of Labour 2024 voters would now support a u-turn on the PIP cuts along with Green and Lib Dem voters, only Tory voters are particularly split.

Screenshot of Vicky's letter to the Prime Minister (page 1)

Screenshot of Vicky's letter to the Prime Minister (page 2)

(1/2) With a heavy heart, I have written to the Prime Minister to tender my resignation as a whip.

Whilst I will continue to support the government in delivering the change the country so desperately needs, I cannot vote in favour of the proposed reforms to disability benefits.