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Chamber and committees

Calling for an End to the Two-child Benefit Cap and "Rape Clause”

  • Submitted by: Ross Greer, West Scotland, Scottish Green Party.
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 July 2023
  • Motion reference: S6M-09977

That the Parliament condemns the two-child limit for social security payments, a UK Government policy that came into effect in 2017, which, it believes, has inflicted hardship, trauma and anxiety onto hundreds of thousands of low-income and vulnerable families across the UK; notes with concern recent reports from the Child Poverty Action Group, which highlight that 80,000 children in Scotland have been negatively impacted by this policy, and that one in 10 children across the UK are in households affected by the cap, as well as separate reports that, in the first three years of the policy’s operation, almost 1,000 women across the UK were forced to disclose that one of their children had been conceived as a result of rape in order to receive relevant social security payments, and agrees with the children’s charities, women's organisations, faith groups, human rights defenders and others that have consistently called for the UK Government to end what it sees as this cruel policy.


Supported by: Karen Adam, Maggie Chapman, Bob Doris, Jackie Dunbar, Christine Grahame, Bill Kidd, Gillian Mackay, John Mason, Ivan McKee, Stuart McMillan, Mark Ruskell, Kevin Stewart