Liz Kendall has hinted there will be more measures to tackle child poverty to come amid pressure from Labour MPs to remove the two-child benefit limit.
Writing in The i Paper, the Work and Pensions Secretary said rolling out free school meals to all children in households on universal credit was just the start of the Government’s plan.
Kendall, who is joint chair of the Government’s Child Poverty Taskforce, said parents should “not have to choose between paying bills and feeding their kids”.
The announcement is “just the latest step in our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in the pockets of working people and give all children the best start in life”, she said.
“We’ve already expanded free breakfast clubs, capped school uniform costs, boosted the National Minimum Wage, started rolling out our Get Britain Working plan and supported hundreds of thousands of the poorest families by introducing a fair repayment rate on universal credit deductions,” Kendall added.
“And we’re not stopping here.
“Alongside the Education Secretary, I am working with ministers across Government to deliver our ambitious Child Poverty Strategy which will tackle the root causes of poverty which blight the lives of too many children and harms our country’s future success.”
The flagship taskforce is due to report on the strategy – a ten-year plan to tackle deprivation – later in the year.
Ministers are still deliberating over the final measures to be announced – including what reforms to make to the two-child benefit limit.
The limit, which was introduced in 2017 by the previous government, prevents families on benefits claiming for more than two children, and is deeply unpopular among Labour MPs.
Campaigners argue removing it entirely would lift 350,000 children out of poverty.
Ministers are resisting pressure to lift the cap entirely and the Government has argued it will take a variety of policy approaches to tackle the issue of deprivation, not just changes to welfare.
The expansion of eligibility for free school meals will lift 100,000 children out of poverty, the Government has said.
‘Parents should not have to choose between paying bills and feeding their children’
By Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Imagine trying to learn your times tables, do your exercises or revise on an empty stomach.
That is the reality of life in 2025 for far too many children. Despite their parents working hard, they are still turning up hungry to school.
It is not just wrong, it’s a national disgrace.
The evidence shows that if children are hungry, it is harder for them to study and concentrate.
And it also shows that when children receive free school meals it helps improve attention and discipline – benefitting everyone in the class.
Parents should not have to choose between paying bills and feeding their kids.
Today we’re ending that choice – putting free school meals and better futures on the table for thousands of children.
From learners starting in school nurseries to college students sitting their A-Levels, we’re ensuring any child in a family on universal credit can now receive a healthy meal at lunchtime.
The change will give half a million more children access to free school meals and lift 100,000 children across the country out of poverty completely from next year.
This is just the latest step in our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in the pockets of working people and give all children the best start in life.
We’ve already expanded free breakfast clubs, capped school uniform costs, boosted the National Minimum Wage, started rolling out our Get Britain Working plan and supported hundreds of thousands of the poorest families by introducing a fair repayment rate on universal credit deductions.
And we’re not stopping here.
Alongside the Education Secretary (Bridget Phillipson), I am working with ministers across Government to deliver our ambitious Child Poverty Strategy which will tackle the root causes of poverty which blight the lives of too many children and harms our country’s future success.
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