On 5th May 2020 the virtual House of Lords heard the repeat of a Government statement on welfare benefit claims during the pandemic. The Bishop of Durham, Rt Revd Paul Butler, asked a follow up question:
The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. I add my thanks to all those in DWP for the incredible amount of work that they are doing.
I want to return to the two-child limit. I am sorry but it simply will not do to keep parroting back the same answer every time we raise this issue. Today, the Church of England and the Child Poverty Action Group published our latest information and a report on the impact of the limit. It includes evidence from the early days of the Covid crisis. Sixty thousand more families will be impacted. The policy is utterly flawed. I have been assured by Minister after Minister that if we give them the evidence, they will re-examine the limit. It is time that it be re-examined. Please agree at least to look at our report and re-explore the arguments around this issue.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook: I thought that the right reverend Prelate would speak on this. There are no plans to change the two-child limit, as he knows, but if a new report is out, I will of course make sure that the DWP responds to it.
The Church of England in Parliament 
You must be logged in to post a comment.