Sir Gareth made the comments while promoting The Multibank charity campaign, which helps families across the UK access essential items.

Families can’t afford sports and PE kit, warns Sir Gareth Southgate

The plan, long-awaited by anti-poverty charities and campaigners, comes amid a record high of 4.45 million children living in poverty in the UK.

Child poverty strategy: What does the government announcement include? 

Some charities claim that this move could see hundreds of millions of pounds injected into the poorest areas of the Midlands. 

What does the two-child benefit cap being scrapped mean for the Midlands?

Ivy who has three children and lives in Hinckley says she has to currently has to use a foodbank to feed her family so that she can pay the bills each month.

Hinckley mum says scrapping two-child benefit cap will 'change her life'

Over 1.5 million children are currently living in households affected by the two-child limit, that is around one in nine children in the UK. 

Budget 2025: Will Reeves scrap the controversial two-child benefit cap?

The chancellor said she does not think children should be 'penalised' for being part of large families.

Two-child benefit cap could be scrapped in Budget, hints Reeves

The government launched a crackdown on wrongful payments from abroad after a trial removed 2,600 people from the system, saving £17 million over the last year

Government to crackdown on child benefit claims from abroad

Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped in an exclusive interview with ITV News.

Former PM Gordon Brown calls on Labour to scrap two-child benefit cap

Described as the "world's largest fund of its kind", the government says it will improve the life chances of around 200,000 vulnerable children.

What's in the government's £500m plan to tackle child poverty?

Calls continue to scrap the two-child benefit cap, as a new report by the Children's Commissioner is said to reveal the "real hardship" facing some families.

Mouldy food and rats: Children face 'almost-Dickensian' levels of poverty

a generic stock photo of school girls walking to school. A three-child limit on benefits could cut child poverty by 320,000 by the end of this Parliament, a think tank has projected, but it insisted scrapping the two-child limit entirely is necessary for any poverty strategy to be credible. Issue date: Wednesday February 26, 2025.

Around one in eight parents were getting food parcels from their child’s school, the survey of low-income families found. 

'One in 10 parents in poverty say their child has been bullied for being poor'

Mothers at a Newcastle charity said the government's decision to triple investment in free breakfast clubs will save them up to £200 a month.

Budget 2024: Tripling of free breakfast investment to save mum £200 a month

The South Shields MP has said she will keep pressure on the government to scrap the child benefit cap, but welcomed tripling funding for school breakfast clubs.

MP to 'keep pushing' government to scrap child benefit cap

Some campaigners have called for both that policy and the benefit cap to be scrapped to help lift children out of poverty.

Axing two-child limit ‘most cost-effective move but no silver bullet on poverty’

Children in Luton enjoying a hot meal and activities during the summer holidays.  Credit: ITV News Anglia

New research from the charity Action for Children has found that cost of living crisis is having a big impact on the welfare of young people.

Child Poverty

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