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Universal Credit

Asked by Tom MorrisonLiberal DemocratDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 16 May 2025UIN 50975

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of households that claim Universal Credit and are affected by the two-child limit (a) were affected from the start of their claim and (b) were previously affected under a claim for Tax Credits.

Answered by Sir Stephen Timms

Of the 380,000 Universal Credit (UC) households affected by the policy in April 2024, 236,000 (61%) were affected in their first assessment period on UC and the rest became affected in a subsequent assessment period. Using slightly different data to allow linking to Child Tax Credit (CTC) data, 106,000 (28%) of households affected on UC in April 2024 had a previous CTC claim at some point and 99,000 (27%) were affected by the two-child policy during their CTC claim.

Figures and percentages provided may not sum to the total due to rounding and use of different data sets.

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