Work and Pensions

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2026 Written Corrections

The following extracts are from Committee of the whole House on the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill on 23 February 2026.

[Sir Stephen Timms]

…Removing the two-child limit does not undermine work incentives. From time to time, the Conservatives suggest that it does, but actually it does not. Removing the two-child limit increases the income of many families in work and increases the reward for work, and it does not undermine work incentives.

[Official Report, 23 February 2026; Vol. 781, c. 140.]

Written correction submitted by the Minister for Social Security and Disability, the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms):

[Sir Stephen Timms]

…Removing the two-child limit does not substantially undermine work incentives. From time to time, the Conservatives suggest that it does, but actually it does not. Removing the two-child limit increases the income of many families in work and, in some cases, increases the reward for work, and it does not substantially undermine work incentives.

[Sir Stephen Timms]

…The Department publishes quarterly statistics on the benefit cap, which includes the number of households that are capped and how that changes over time. The most recent quarterly statistics show that of 119,000 households capped at the start of the quarter that ended in August last year, 40,000—about one third—were no longer capped by the end of the quarter, although others were newly capped, so there is a lot of churn in the cohort of capped households. The 40,000 households that left that cohort included 2,900 who had ceased to be capped because their earnings exceeded the threshold of full-time earnings at the national living wage. We want to encourage more people to make that transition.

[Official Report, 23 February 2026; Vol. 781, c. 141.]

Written correction submitted by the Minister for Social Security and Disability, the right hon. Member for East Ham:

[Sir Stephen Timms]

…The Department publishes quarterly statistics on the benefit cap, which includes the number of households that are capped and how that changes over time. The most recent quarterly statistics show that 119,000 households were capped at the start of the quarter that ended in August last year and 40,000 households were no longer capped in the quarter, although others were newly capped, so there is a lot of churn in the cohort of capped households. The 40,000 households included 2,900 who had ceased to be capped because their earnings met or exceeded the earnings threshold. We want to encourage more people to make that transition.