Scotland’s First Minister has declared that his Government is taking action on the two-child benefit cap because he “can’t wait” for Labour to scrap the policy. John Swinney emphasised the urgency of fulfilling a promise to “leave no stone unturned in eradicating child poverty”.
He also criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, suggesting that voters “reasonably could have expected” Labour to address the issue after their election victory in July. Sir Keir has stated that the policy will only be terminated when fiscal conditions permit, without specifying a timeline.
Mr Swinney asserted: “We can’t wait for a Labour Government. I am acting to fulfil my commitment to leave no stone unturned in eradicating child poverty, that is what we’re going to do.”
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The controversial cap, introduced by the Conservatives in 2017, restricts claims for certain benefits to the first two children in a family, denying additional funds for any further children. During the Scottish Budget presentation at Holyrood on Wednesday, Finance Secretary Shona Robison denounced the “pernicious” policy and assured MSPs: “Be in no doubt – the cap will be scrapped.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister acknowledged his firm commitment to tackling child poverty but did not agree that abolishing the cap was the sole solution needed to achieve this goal.
Sir Keir Starmer emphasised the complexity of addressing child poverty by stating: “If you’re really going to tackle child poverty, you’ve got to look at housing, you’ve got to look at health, you’ve got to look at education, you’ve got to look at so many aspects of a child’s life in order to take it seriously and to bring it down.”
He also cautioned against oversimplification: “So I know it’s easy to think there’s one silver bullet and if you just do that one thing, that will change everything. I don’t accept that.”
However, Mr. Swinney, speaking from a nursery in Livingston, hit back with criticism of Labour: “I think we reasonably could have expected a Labour Government to come in and lift the Tory two-child limit. But they have not done that.”
Mr. Swinney then addressed the measures being planned for Scotland, mentioning the need for preparatory steps before mitigating the cap, stating payments are anticipated to commence in 2026. This is notably close to the Holyrood elections in May of the same year.
Rejecting the idea that this decision was influenced by electoral prospects, with the SNP soon going head-to-head with Labour, he highlighted the dependency on the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for necessary information to proceed.
The First Minister assured that collaboration with the DWP would continue to expedite the policy’s introduction: “If we can do it earlier than April 2026 we will do that, but it depends on the steps that are taken to get access to the data and to ensure we can be successful in implementing that programme.”
He highlighted the measure as part of a “whole series” of initiatives by the Scottish Government to combat child poverty, with the First Minister having already made this his central focus. However, he acknowledged that “enormous inflationary pressures” have prevented the government from fulfilling its pledge to provide free school meals to all primary school children.
Currently, children up to P5 benefit from free lunches, and Mr Swinney revealed that the 2025-26 Budget includes a funded commitment to extend this to P6 and P7 pupils eligible for the Scottish child payment—a benefit for low-income families in Scotland. He explained: “The Government has had to take a decision to target that investment, instead of it being available to all P6 and P7 pupils we have focused that on those who are most at risk of living in poverty.”
“We’ve had to do that because since the 2021 election we have faced enormous inflationary pressures in the public finances.”
Additionally, he defended his government’s actions to aid people amid criticisms that tax changes will barely affect individuals.
The upcoming Budget will see an increase in the threshold for basic and intermediate tax rates by 3.5%, which the Scottish Government claims will result in more income being taxed at these reduced rates. Nonetheless, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland has calculated that an individual earning £25,000 annually will “only be £5 better off” following these adjustments.
Mr Swinney has described the tax revisions as “part of a package of measures to try to address the cost-of-living challenges people face” He went on to add, “The Government is funding very significant increases in public sector pay, balanced and focused heavily towards those on lower incomes, to try to boost their incomes.”
Additionally, he mentioned, “Through a number of different interventions, on pay, on public expenditure and on social security, we are trying to act to support people, and to support families who face financial difficulty.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar stated his party’s intention to “work constructively” with Mr Swinney’s Government on putting an end to the two-child cap, noting that this is a policy they “ultimately we agree on”. However, Mr Sarwar was adamant that currently it is “a policy without a penny”, stressing that “this Budget does not allocate a penny towards lifting the two-child benefit cap”.
For these reasons, he pointed out that, “I think it is important to recognise that this Budget does not scrap the two-child benefit cap and it would be wrong for the Government to suggest it does”. Addressing the broader issue, Mr Sarwar highlighted the significance of the UK-wide Child Poverty Taskforce, stating, “There is a wider issue here around how we challenge poverty in our society, that’s why the Child Poverty Taskforce which is happening across the UK is so important.”
Headshot of John Swinney looking concerned