Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill: Second Reading

Parliament voted on 3 February 2026 to give the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill its Second Reading, passing it by 458 votes to 104. A Second Reading is the first substantive vote on a bill, approving its general principles and allowing it to proceed to further scrutiny. The bill would remove the two-child limit introduced in April 2017, which restricts Universal Credit child-element payments to a maximum of two children per household. From assessment periods starting on or after 6 April 2026, payments would be calculated to include all children in a household, regardless of how many there are. The practical effect of the bill is significant. The government estimates around 300,000 children would be lifted out of poverty as a result, at an estimated cost of £3 billion per year by 2029/30. The policy applies to England, Scotland and Wales, with equivalent provision for Northern Ireland. Roughly 60 per cent of families currently affected by the limit are in work, and the government argued that around half of those who would benefit were not receiving Universal Credit at all when their children were born, meaning the limit had penalised families whose circumstances changed after family-size decisions had already been made. The vote divided largely along party lines. All 324 Labour MPs and all 36 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted supported the bill, as did all voting Liberal Democrats (62), SNP members (8), Plaid Cymru members (4), Green Party members (4) and Democratic Unionist Party members (4). All 99 voting Conservatives opposed it. Reform UK split, with 5 voting against and 2 voting for, a division Pat McFadden noted from the despatch box, pointing out that the party's new member Suella Braverman had previously called for the limit to be abolished. No vote was recorded for 37 Labour MPs, 17 Conservatives and 10 Liberal Democrats.