Hexham mum campaigns to end two-child limit benefits policy

Hexham's Rosie Gilchrist was among families who travelled to London on April 4 to campaign against the policy with the End Child Poverty coalition.

The policy was introduced in April 2017 and limits child-related welfare support, including Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit, to the first two children in a family.

It was intended to promote financial responsibility and increase employment rates. However, it has since been criticised over claims it is pushing families further into poverty. 

In 2017, Rosie founded her charity in the town, Rosie's Corner, which provides free preowned baby and children's clothing, shoes and equipment for families in West Northumberland.

Rosie took to parliament to shed light on her experiences of the two-child limit and the policy's impact both locally and nationally, presenting a letter to the assistant of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.

Volunteers arranging clothes at Rosie's Corner (Image: Rosie Gilchrist)  "We were all trying to get the point across that these children are the next generation of workers," Rosie said.

"But I feel like the Government's taken away the right for them to be like a child.

"I would like to hope that MPs have listened and read my letter. I just want my children to grow up and feel valued by the government.

"This isn't just about one woman shouting about money, I'm being a voice for the 350,000 children in the UK who could be brought out of poverty if the two-child limit ends."

2023/24 statistics by Action for Children state that there is currently 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK, which is 31 per cent of all children and an increase of 100,000 since 2022/23.

Rosie, her son and another volunteer outside of Rosie's Corner (Image: Rosie Gilchrist) The Rosie's Corner founder says that she is seeing the impact of the two-child limit and the rise in the cost of living on a day to day basis.

Rosie said: "We do a yearly stats review and I think our increase in demand went up by 24 per cent in the last year, with it being 86 per cent in the last 24 months. 

"43 per cent of the families that come to us were affected by the two-child policy." 

Findings from research published by the End Child Poverty coalition claim  that more than 70,000 children in our region are now impacted by the ‘two-child limit’ in Universal Credit – which equates to 13 per cent of all children growing up across the North East.

Rosie said: "In 2023, 680 babies and children living in Hexham alone were subject to the two-child policy, with the amount of babies and children affected by the policy rising every 13 minutes!

"No matter how you get your finances into your house, it is in one hand and out of the other," said Rosie.

The Hexham Courant reached out to Hexham Labour MP Joe Morris, to get his thoughts on Rosie and the work she does and what labour are planning to do to tackle child poverty locally and nationally.

Hexham MP Joe Morris said Rosie is doing 'fantastic' work to combat child poverty and is 'truly an asset' to the area. 

"All children deserve access to the basics many of us take for granted and too often rural areas like ours are forgotten about by local and central Government funding or larger charities," he said. 

"So I have to thank Rosie for the work she does to ensure that no child in West Northumberland is left behind. 

"However, our goal as a government is to ensure families across the country receive the support they need, so that fewer families need to use services like these.

"It is clear that more needs to be done to tackle child poverty, particularly in the North East. I welcome the Government’s commitment to publishing a UK-wide child poverty strategy later this year, and I look forward to engaging with its findings.

"This strategy has the potential to make a real difference for families across the country and reduce the rate of child poverty that has risen over the past 15 years.

"This Government knows that all young people need healthy and hearty food in order to learn and grow but recognises that for too many families this remains out of reach.

"That is why, this month, we are introducing four new free breakfast clubs at schools across the constituency, with plans to roll this initiative out even further - making breakfast clubs free to all primary-aged children.

"Northumberland Labour’s recent pledge to auto-enrol all eligible children into free school meals would also make a huge difference in ensuring that children across our constituency are fed and ready to learn."

A government spokesperson said: “No child should be in poverty – that’s why our ministerial taskforce is developing an ambitious strategy to give every child the best start in life as part of our Plan for Change.

“Alongside delivering on our Get Britain Working reforms to support people into good jobs and make everyone better off, we have increased the Living Wage, uprated benefits and are supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions to help low-income households.”