Reform promises to bring back two-child benefit cap...

[dutchman]

Robert Jenrick announces reversal to party’s policy but Nigel Farage insists he wants to abolish limit in future



Reform UK would bring back the two-child benefit cap, Robert Jenrick has promised.

In a major speech in the City of London on Wednesday, Reform’s new “shadow chancellor” pledged to “fix Britain with a new economic model” and restore the two-child limit, in a reversal of the party’s previous position.

On Wednesday, Mr Jenrick announced that Reform had changed its position on the two-child benefit policy and could not afford to scrap the cap.

However, Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, suggested his party had changed its position reluctantly and insisted he still wanted to abolish the limit in the future.

“Today, Reform is changing our policy on the two-child cap for Universal Credit. We want to help working families have more children,” Mr Jenrick said.

“But right now, we just cannot afford to do so with welfare, so it has to go. And, as Reform’s shadow chancellor, I’m ending it. A Reform government will restore the cap in full.”

The two-child benefit cap, which was introduced by the Tories in 2017, stopped parents from claiming child tax credit or Universal Credit for their third child or any subsequent children.

Labour initially kept the cap, but Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, announced last November that it would be abolished.

Last year, Mr Farage said that it was “the right thing to do”. However, Mr Jenrick, who was on the Tory front benches at the time, insisted he was wrong and that the cap must stay. The Reform leader later clarified that he would only keep the benefit for British families who were in work.

In a huddle with reporters, Mr Farage insisted he had not changed his mind on the two-child benefit cap and suggested he was forced into doing so by “the Tory press”.

The Reform leader said: “What I wanted is the two-child cap lifted for working British families and for my efforts, I got branded by the Tory press as being a ‘socialist’. It backfired. It didn’t work.

“Any attempt to do anything that is pro-family seems to be very, very difficult to do. And anyway, it was only going to cost a tiny amount of money compared to the upwards of £3bn that this Labour party has changed [by lifting the cap entirely]. So look, I accept it, it’s fine.”

He continued: “The only U-turn is a minor one for working British families. My attempt at being pro-family has failed.”

Challenged on why had changed his mind, Mr Farage told The Telegraph: “I haven’t changed it. But what’s the point? You try [to] argue for the family and newspapers like yours say I am being irresponsible. So there we are, no one is in favour of the family anymore.”

The shift in Reform’s position will be seen as an attempt by the party to bolster its economic credibility, having also committed to retaining the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Last month, Mr Farage had suggested he was open to abolishing the OBR. On Wednesday, Mr Jenrick said it was “far from perfect” but vowed to reform it instead of abolishing it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/18/reform-promises-to-bring-back-two-child-benefit-cap/