North East areas where thousands of children will benefit from two

Child poverty in the North East (Image: Kate Stanworth / Save The Children)

The lifting of the two-child benefit limit will be felt by nearly 60,000 children in the North East, as charities welcome Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget decision. The two-child benefit limit currently prevents parents from claiming Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for more than two children, and was introduced by the Conservative Government in 2017.

Announcing the move, which is estimated to cost £3bn a year by 2029-30, Reeves said her party did "not believe that the solution to a broken welfare system is to punish the most vulnerable children". An estimated 350,000 children across the country could be lifted out of poverty as a result of lifting the cap, according to research by the End Child Poverty