The two-child limit on benefits has finally been lifted. It is believed to be most cost-effective way to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, almost overnight.

Charities have repeatedly called for it to be scrapped, as have Labour MPs, but the government has resisted until now. It feared it was too expensive a measure at a time of financial pressures.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have at last backed down, with the chancellor saying in her autumn budget: “I can announce today, fully-costed and fully-funded, the removal of the two-child limit in full from April.”

But what does the end to the two-child limit on benefits actually mean and who will be affected?

Dr Philip Goodwin, chief executive officer of UNICEF UK , called it a “necessary decision to tackle record

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