Blog: Why our union is fighting the “ two-child limit ”

In recent years, public service employees have been hit hard by the decisions of the Conservative government. Yet few of its policies have been as divisive or as dangerous as the so-called “two-child limit”. The “two-child limit” restricts parents’ tax credits applications to two children. Any family that has a third child born on or after 6 April 2017 cannot claim tax credits for that baby or any subsequent children. On Monday I spoke at an event, organised by UNISON in the House of Commons, to draw attention to this vital issue. Our campaign against the measure has been driven by the passion of our President Margaret McKee to tackle this injustice. It’s a campaign that chimes with the values of our union and with our role as a union of more than a million women. It is the worst kind of government policy – moralistic, judgemental and ineffective – and it will cost many families around £2,800 a year if they have a third child and £5,600 if they have a fourth. These are families already struggling to make ends meet, in a difficult economic climate, after years of cuts and austerity. Especially those who work in our public services, who face the double whammy of the pay cap coupled with spiralling inflation. The two-child limit comes on top of frozen child benefit, a four year freeze on in-work benefits and cuts to work allowances. This was a plan so bad – so misconceived – that at first, the government didn’t even support it. Backbench MP Nadhim Zahawi ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News Universal credit Source Type: news