Amber Rudd scraps controversial extension of two-child benefits cap

Work and pensions secretary bows to pressure in bid to allay fears about roll-out of universal credit

Controversial plans to retrospectively extend the two-child benefit cap to new universal credit claimants are to be scrapped as they were not as "compassionate" as they could be, Amber Rudd has said.

The new work and pensions secretary confirmed she was overhauling parts of the government's flagship welfare reform in an attempt to allay fears about the programme's roll-out.

In her first major welfare speech, Ms Rudd was due to announce she would drop the bid to broaden the two-child cap to children born before the welfare cut was introduced in April 2017 amid pressure from MPs and campaigners.

She also confirmed that she was delaying an imminent vote to move three million people onto universal credit until next year, after a pilot of the transfer from existing benefits has been completed.

However the Conservative cabinet minister admitted that the original reforms "weren't effective or weren't compassionate in the way that I want them to be".

"I'm absolutely convinced that Universal Credit is a far better system than the legacy system it replaces," Ms Rudd told the Today programme.

"This is a really ambitious project. It's going to impact on 8 million people's lives when it is finally completed. It is inevitable that, as we roll it out, as we make the changes, we are learning about how to do it better.

"Maybe things that were were proposed previously weren't effective or weren't compassionate in the way that I want them to be.

"So I'm going to be perfectly bold about making those changes where I need to."

She added: "I'm not accepting that it wasn't compassionate in the first place. It was. I'm just reinforcing that."

Labour urged her to go further and scrap the two-child limit entirely as it was "deeply unfair" to claimants.

Margaret Greenwood, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "Amber Rudd has admitted that applying the two child limit to families with children who were born before the system was introduced is not “compassionate”.

"It’s clear the government must scrap the two-child limit in its entirety.

“Labour will scrap the social security freeze and get rid of the two child cap, which everyone, including the work and pensions secretary, knows is deeply unfair.”

Ms Rudd‘s move comes as the Commons Work and Pensions Committee branded the plans to retrospectively extend the cap to children born before it was brought in as “cruel”.

The committee expressed fears about the impact of such a move on the levels of child poverty.

Ms Rudd will also announce a slowdown in the “managed migration” to UC of claimants whose circumstances have not changed.