Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

I rise to speak in support of lifting the two-child cap, not just as a Member of Parliament but as someone who knows personally what it means to live on the edge of financial insecurity. That was not my child’s fault.

A few years ago, between the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, long before I entered the House, I was for a time a single parent and out of work—not for long in the grand scheme of things, but for long enough to struggle again. I do not want to make this speech about me, but I want to give this example because, hopefully, it shows a modicum of insight and empathy that appears to be missing in more than one party on the other side of the House.

Like millions of people, I was doing everything that I could to keep going, to keep my home afloat and to shield my child from the worst of the stress and anxiety that come with not having enough. Many people experience that even in work—people with responsibility for more children than I have. At that time, I had to register a statutory off-road notification for my car because I simply could not afford to run and tax it, so twice a day, every day, I would walk to the school. That took me about three hours. Let me be clear about what that meant in practice. It meant—especially for my daughter—starting the day already exhausted, yet knowing that I still had to parent, to job hunt, to cope. At the end of the day, it meant digging deep for energy that, quite frankly, I often just did not have. On some days, if I could scrape together enough loose change—coins that I gathered from looking hither and thither—I could afford to take a bus, and that small thing, that single bus journey, made an enormous difference to me and to my child. I had a little more patience, a little more capacity to be the parent that my child needed me to be.

That, for so many, is the reality that we are talking about today. The two-child cap is often discussed in abstract terms—in terms of numbers, incentives and thresholds—but behind every statistic is a family making impossible choices, parents skipping meals so that their children can eat, and children growing up with limits imposed on them before they have even had a chance to begin. This is not about supporting families who are simply irresponsible or reckless or thoughtless or not planning ahead for children they can or cannot afford. It predominantly impacts on working families who sometimes fall on hard times, families who lose a job, families whose circumstances change through illness, bereavement or redundancy, families who did not plan to need support but need it none the less. Children do not choose the circumstances they are born into, yet under the two-child cap we are telling some children that they are worth less than others. This support will remove the arbitrary line drawn not by need, but by ideology.

Lifting the two-child cap is not about rewarding anyone, but about recognising reality. It is about acknowledging that the cost of living has risen, that wages have not kept pace and that social security should provide security, especially for children. When we invest in families, we invest in better outcomes, better health, less crime, better education and stronger communities. We also reduce pressure on public services further down the line, and we give parents the breathing space they need.

When I think back to the long walks, exhaustion and worry, as well as the quiet determination to keep going, I know how much difference a little extra support will make for the very many families and children who will be lifted out of poverty by this policy. It is not luxury and comfort; it is just dignity and a fair chance. It is the difference between a parent breaking or not, going without a meal to feed their child or not, and the difference between a child not starting the day exhausted and having a warm bedroom at bedtime or not.

Saying, “Don’t have children if you can’t afford them,” just does not wash. It is not a parent’s fault if they have record high energy bills thanks to the war in Ukraine. Saying that does not help a parent who is out of work due to ill health, thanks to a broken NHS that has not been there to help them after 14 years of Conservative government. It is no parent’s fault when they have a child with special educational needs and disabilities, who perhaps they have had to give up work to support. The fault does not lie with the more than 60% of working families who are struggling. That is why I urge this House to do the right thing, as have Citizens Advice, the Child Poverty Action Group, Alder Hey children’s hospital, the Mental Health Foundation, the Royal College of Nursing, the Women’s Budget Group and UNICEF UK—to name but a few. I notice that Conservative Members have referred to absolutely no organisations that back their claim that this is the wrong thing to do.

I want to ensure that no child in this country is held back simply because of the circumstances they were born into or the changed circumstances that have made things harder for them and their parents. That is why I am grateful that we are not passing the Bill in isolation, but that this Labour Government are delivering Best Start hubs, breakfast clubs to help parents get back into work and to get to work earlier, and up to £7,000 of childcare for working parents. We are also helping young people who are out of work, education or training into the workplace to better their life opportunities, and that is what lifting the two-child cap is about.