Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the exceptional circumstances are which will allow full support under universal credit for third and subsequent children born after April 2017.

Since 6 April 2017, families with third and subsequent children born on or after this date are able to claim additional support through Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for their first two children.

We recognise that some claimants are not able to make the same choices about the number of children in their family. That is why exceptions have been put in place to protect certain groups.

Exceptions apply to third and subsequent children who are:

• Additional children in a multiple birth: an extra amount is payable for all children in a multiple birth other than the first child; or
• Likely to have been born as a result of non-consensual conception, which for this purpose includes non-consensual sex where the claimant was in a controlling or coercive relationship with the child’s other biological parent at the time of conception.

An exception also applies to any children in a household who are:

• Adopted when they would otherwise be in Local Authority care; or
• Living long term with friends or family and would otherwise be at risk of entering the care system, or where a child (under 16) living with their parents or carers has a child of their own (until they make a separate claim upon turning 16).