The new Labour government is under pressure to scrap the controversial ‘two-child cap’.
SNP politicians, alongside many Labour MPs opposed to the policy, have called on Keir Starmer to end the benefit limit, brought in by the Conservatives in 2017.
Posts on social media claimed the SNP had the power to scrap the policy within Scotland.
The SNP has the devolved power to scrap the two child benefit cap
Social media posts
CLAIM: The SNP has the devolved power to scrap the two child benefit cap (Social media posts)
Ferret Fact Service looked at this claim and found it Half True.
Evidence
Low-income families in the UK are entitled to additional money for each child they have through universal credit or child tax credits. This typically works out at £3,455 each year per child, paid monthly.
Legislation brought in by the then-Conservative government, which came into force in 2017, limits this extra cash to the first two children in the family. This has become known as the two-child cap.
It does not apply to child benefit, which is given to everyone raising a child, and is not means-tested. High-income families do have to pay a tax charge on their child benefit or can opt out of the payment altogether.
It applies to children born from April 2017, and has some exceptions, such as twins or non-consensual conception. This has been described as the ‘rape clause’, and criticised by campaigners as it requires women to disclose and relive their abuse in order to receive the exemption.
Pressure has been building on prime minister Keir Starmer over the issue of the two-child cap. On Wednesday, the SNP tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech – which sets out the government’s policy priorities over the next parliament – calling for the benefit cap to end.
Who has power over it?
Welfare powers are split between the UK and Scottish governments, but the UK’s department of welfare and pensions (DWP) is responsible for much of social security.
This includes the administration of universal credit, which combines multiple previous payments into one monthly allowance.
Low-income families are paid up to an additional £3,455 per year as part of their universal credit payment, for each of the first two children they have.
This policy is reserved to Westminster, so the Scottish Government does not have the ability to scrap the policy completely. However, it could effectively end the cap in Scotland.
Powers devolved in 2016 give Scotland the power to top-up benefits including universal credit.
In the Scotland Act, “discretionary top-up payments” can now be made to people in Scotland who are entitled to UK-wide benefits.
These can be done on a case-by-case basis or to provide “on-going entitlement to specific or all benefit claimants”.
In response to a freedom of information request, the Scottish Government said it is unable to scrap the two-child cap “at source”. This is correct, but ministers could provide top-up payments to stop the cap affecting Scotland.
The Scottish Government already used these powers to effectively end other UK Government policies having an impact in Scotland, such as the spare room penalty, known as the ‘bedroom tax’. This reduces universal credit housing support for those considered to have a spare room. The Scottish Government fully funds the mitigation of this, at a cost of £69.7m in 2022-23.
This comes from the Scottish Government budget, which SNP politicians have argued means other services would need to be cut in order to pay for extra payment to cover those affected by the two-child limit.
Speaking in the House of Commons, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said the Scottish Government already spends money “mitigating” Conservative policies, citing the bedroom tax, but argued money spent on mitigating the two-child cap would mean reducing spending on other services in Scotland.
Ferret Fact Service verdict: Half True
The Scottish Government has powers, under the Scotland Act, to add discretionary payments to reserved benefits. It could fund the mitigation of the two-child limit in Scotland, but would have to pay for it from the Scottish Government budget directly.
Half True – The claim is somewhat or partially accurate, but leaves out crucial information or is selectively taken out of context.
Ferret Fact Service (FFS) is a non-partisan fact checker, and signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles.
All the sources used in our checks are publicly available and the FFS fact-checking methodology can be viewed here.
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Update 06/08/2024: Added additional information on child benefit.
Photo thanks to Number 10, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
