LEGAL experts and politicians hit out at the Westminster government today, accusing it of breaching children’s rights with the two-child benefit cap. 

Children’s commissioners in the devolved parts of the UK told the Tories that there is no excuse for continuing to breach youngsters’ rights with their benefits policy.

The commissioners say the policy, which prevents families from claiming some benefit payments for their third and subsequent children, breaches youngsters’ right to an adequate standard of living and is contributing to a rising gap in poverty levels between families with three or more children and smaller households.

The letter, from Scotland’s Bruce Adamson and his Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts, argues that the policy has a disproportionate impact on minority faith and ethnic communities. 

The UK government says it is committed to supporting families that are “most in need,” saying that there are “careful exemptions and safeguards in place to protect people in the most vulnerable circumstances.”

But Mr Adamson said that living in poverty could affect “every aspect of a child’s life. Now, after over a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation for children in Scotland has become much worse.”

Politicians welcomed the intervention, with Scottish Labour calling for the policy to be scrapped. 

Glasgow Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy told the Star: “This was damaging before Covid-19, but it’s even worse now because the pandemic has hit those already most likely to be in poverty the hardest: lone parents, disabled people and BAME families.

“The UK government must scrap this toxic policy and the Scottish government needs to use the considerable powers that it has to go hard and go fast to end poverty.”