Reform UK Proposes Restoring Child Benefit Cap

Robert Jenrick, Reform UK's newly appointed Treasury spokesman, announced on Wednesday a series of proposed reforms to the British benefits system aimed at curbing rising welfare costs and restoring fiscal discipline. Speaking in the City of London, the former Conservative minister outlined plans to reverse recent changes to child benefits, tighten eligibility for disability payments and limit access to only British nationals.

Jenrick, who served as a Treasury minister under Theresa May and communities secretary under Boris Johnson, described the current system as broken and unsustainable. He pledged that a Reform government would restore the two-child benefit cap on universal credit and child tax credits, a policy introduced by the Conservatives in 2017 and scrapped by the Labour government from April 2025. The cap limits payments to parents for more than their first two children, a measure estimated to affect around 1.6 million children in larger families. Official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility indicate that removing the cap could add £3 billion to welfare spending by 2029-30.

This marks a shift for Reform UK, which had previously indicated support for...