End two-child benefit cap, parents urge as they visit 10 Downing Street

Some 4.3m children in the UK are believed to live below the poverty line, and the Government has committed to a new child poverty reduction strategy set to launch next year.

Those numbers represent the highest since comparable records began in 2002, with most children living in poverty having at least one parent in work.

But Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly rebuffed urges to abolish the two-child benefit cap, meaning parents with three children or more are unable to claim tax or universal credits.

The parents, from the Changing Realities project led by the University of York, met with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and representatives from the Department for Work and Pensions to demand change.

The project brings together over 100 campaigning parents who live in poverty and want the Government to provide further support.

Professor Ruth Patrick, who leads Changing Realities and is from the School for Business and Society at the University of York chaired the meeting. She said: “Millions of parents across the UK struggle day in, day out, to bring up children in poverty.

“Today, twelve of those parents visited 10 Downing Street to set out why action to address child poverty has never been more urgently needed.

“These are ordinary parents, with ordinary hopes and dreams, but this was an extraordinary moment and one that holds the hope of change. The Government can and must listen, and then act – and act urgently - to bring down historically high rates of child poverty and invest in social security as a force for good.”

Jo Barker-Marsh, a parent who took part in the meeting, said: “Lived experience input into policy feels vital to effect lasting change.

“We were delighted to travel to Downing Street and meet to discuss what we know, as the families living in poverty, will make the biggest difference to our lives.”

The group are also demanding the Government expands the eligibility and increase value of carer’s allowance.

It comes after earlier this month more than half of people surveyed said they expected the number of those living in poverty to have risen by the end of the Government’s current term.

Some four in 10 Labour voters expect this to be the case by 2029, the research from King’s College London (KCL) and the Fairness Foundation suggested.

Launching the Child Poverty taskforce earlier this autumn, Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, said: “It is shameful that child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now living in poverty in the UK and 800,000 children using foodbanks to eat.

"This is unacceptable. Delivering on our manifesto commitment to put this right is an urgent priority for this new government and for our country as a whole.”