NGA joins national call to end the two-child limit and tackle child poverty
The National Governance Association (NGA) has joined over 100 organisations in signing an open letter urging the government to abolish the two-child limit on benefits.
The letter calls on the Chancellor to use the forthcoming Budget to take decisive action and give every child the best possible start in life.
Child poverty has deep and lasting effects on educational attainment, wellbeing and opportunities, which are all issues school and trust boards encounter daily. Governors and trustees see first-hand how poverty impacts attendance, concentration, and outcomes, and how schools must work ever harder to support pupils and families under increasing financial strain.
By adding our voice and the voice of our members, NGA stands alongside those calling for a fairer future for all children. We believe that eradicating child poverty is fundamental to enabling schools to deliver on their purpose and ensuring that governance can focus on improving education rather than mitigating the effects of inequality.
Emma Balchin, NGA Chief Executive, said:“Governors and trustees are deeply aware of the human impact behind the statistics. Children arriving at school hungry, families choosing between essentials and the widening gap in opportunities. Members tell us how school staff and resources are ever stretched as they try to ensure basic needs are met, before too many children can be ready to learn.
Ending the two-child limit is not only a moral imperative but a practical step towards creating the conditions where every child can thrive and every board can focus on delivering the best education for all.”
Letter and signatories in full
As this government recognises, every child deserves the best start in life. But a record 4.5 million children live in poverty. Their life chances are being held back and their potential wasted. They deserve better.
At the Budget, the Chancellor has a unique chance to change this. By fully scrapping the two-child limit she can deliver a decisive shift in children’s opportunities, and in our country’s future potential.
We have come together as diverse organisations who recognise that turning the tide on child poverty is crucial for children, and also for wider ambitions on housing, education, health and national growth. Reducing child poverty will boost family budgets, and local economies. It will reduce household debt, and cut the huge future costs of poverty faced by our schools, hospitals and other public services.
Every day the two-child limit remains, in any form, it pushes children into poverty. Now is not the time for half-measures.
Now is the moment for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to hear the voices of the UK’s children and take this vital opportunity to do the right thing.
Abolishing the two-child limit in full will set millions of children’s lives on a path to a brighter future, and help to rebuild a stronger, fairer country and economy.
Matthew McGregor, CEO, 38 Degrees
Katherine Hill, Director, 4in10 London's Child Poverty Network
Justina Murray, CEO, Aberlour Children's Charity
Brigitte Gater, Managing Director of Children’s Services, Action for Children
Fiona Ashcroft, CEO, Alder Hey Children’s Charity
Pepe Di'Iasio, General Secretary, Association of School and College Leaders
Diana Skelton, Head of Giving Poverty a Voice Programme, ATD Fourth World
Lynn Perry, CEO, Barnardo's
Prof Sam Baron, Interim CEO, BASW UK (The British Association of Social Workers)
Prof Kitty Stewart, Associate Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE, Benefit Changes and Larger Families Research Project
Dr Steffan Evans, CEO, Bevan Foundation
Lord Bird MBE, Founder and Editor in Chief, Big Issue
Dr Tom Dolphin, Chair of Council, BMA
Liz Stockley, CEO, British Dietetic Association
Sanchita Hosali, CEO, British Institute of Human Rights
Joseph Howes, CEO, Buttle UK and Chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition
Patrick O’Dowd, Director, Caritas Salford
Ben Gilchrist, CEO, Caritas Shrewsbury
Claire Burns, Director, CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection
Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, Founder and Executive Chair, Centre for Young Lives
Professor Ruth Patrick, Lead, Changing Realities
Rachael Williamson, Director of policy, communications & external affairs, Chartered Institute of Housing
Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group
Mary Glasgow, Chief Executive, Children First
Dr Judith Turbyne, Chief Executive Officer, Children in Scotland
Sean O’Neill, Deputy CEO-Policy Director, Children in Wales-Plant Yng Nghymru
Leigh Elliott, Chief Executive Officer, Children North East
Liam Purcell, Chief Executive Officer, Church Action on Poverty
Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive, Citizens Advice
Emma Jackson, Head of Social Justice, Citizens Advice Scotland
Leora Cruddas CBE, Chief Executive, Confederation of School Trusts
Dr Carol Homden CBE, CEO, Coram
Katie Bareham, CEO, Doorstep Library
Sarah Ronan, Executive Director, Early Education and Childcare Coalition
Claire Donovan, Director, End Furniture Poverty
Catherine Murphy, Executive Director, Engender
Chris Brill, CEO, Expert Link
Samantha Butters and Gina Cicerone, Co-CEOs, Fair Education Alliance
Will Snell, Chief Executive, Fairness Foundation
Cherrie Bija, Chief Executive, Faith in Families
Cheryl Ward, CEO, Family Fund
Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO, FareShare
Andrew Forsey OBE, National Director, Feeding Britain
Anna Taylor, Executive Director, Food Foundation
Sarah Mann, CEO, Friends, Families and Travellers
Abigail Wood, CEO, Gingerbread
Emilie de Bruijn, Chair, Hartlepool Baby Bank
Peter Babudu, Executive Director, Impact on Urban Health
Susannah Hardyman MBE, CEO, Impetus
Martyn Walker, Communications & Public Affairs Manager, Includem
Sabine Goodwin, Director, Independent Food Aid Network
Alison Morton, CEO, Institute of Health Visiting
Alfie Stirling, Director of Insight and Policy, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Jess McQuail, Director, Just Fair
Louise King, Co-Lead, Just for Kids Law, including the Children’s Rights Alliance for England
Katie Ghose, Chief Executive, Kids
Bev Morgan, CEO, Koala North West
Steph Capewell, Chief Executive, Love, Amelia
Dr Lindsey MacDonald, Chief Executive, Magic Breakfast
Mark Rowland, Chief Executive, Mental Health Foundation
Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, NAHT
Matt Wrack, General Secretary, NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union
Phillip Anderson, Strategic Director for External Affairs, National Children’s Bureau
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, National Education Union
Emma Balchin, Chief Executive Officer, National Governance Association
Alistair Smyth, Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Federation
Tim McLachlan, Chief Executive, NDNA
Professor Liz Todd OBE, Professor of Educational Inclusion, Newcastle University
Beth Farhat, Chair, North East Child Poverty Commission
Anna Edmundson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, NSPCC
Peter Kelly, Chief Executive, Poverty Alliance
Minnie Rahman, CEO, Praxis
Dr Katharine Vincent, Director, Reconnect London
Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz, Sub-group chair, Refugee and Migrant Children's Consortium
Graham Whitham, CEO, Resolve Poverty
Craig Anderson OBE, CEO, Reuse Network
Carli Whittaker, Head of Nursing, Royal College of Nursing
Professor Steve Turner, President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Dan Paskins, Executive Director of UK Impact, Save the Children UK
Stephanie Slater MBE, Founder/Chief Executive, School Food Matters
Jaine Stannard, CEO, School-Home Support
Audrey Anderson, Chief Executive, Scottish Out of School Care Network
Sara Cowan, Director, Scottish Women’s Budget Group
Ruth Talbot, Founder, Single Parent Rights
Vikki Brownridge, Chief Executive, StepChange Debt Charity
Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming
James Toop, CEO, Teach First
Josephine McCartney, Chief Executive, The Childhood Trust
Mark Russell, Chief Executive, The Children’s Society
Michael Mack, CEO, The Family Mediation Trust
Charlotte Hill, CEO, The Felix Project
Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive, The Kids Network
William Roberts, Chief Executive, The Royal Society for Public Health
Nick Harrison, CEO, The Sutton Trust
Philip Goodwin, Chief Executive Officer, The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)
Katie Taylor, Head of Communities and Social Change, Toynbee Hall
Matthew van Duyvenbode, Co-Chief Executive, Trussell
Paul Nowak, General Secretary, TUC
Thomas Lawson, CEO, Turn2us
Tracy Daszkiewicz, President, UK Faculty of Public Health
Dr Sara Reis, Deputy Director and Head of Research & Policy, UK Women's Budget Group
Willie Slavin, Chair, West Cumbria Child Poverty Forum
Joanna Fashan, Associate Director, Whizz Kidz
Sonia Malik, Associate Director of Policy, Influencing and Voice, Young Lives vs Cancer
Andy Peers, Chief Executive, Zarach
Ayla Ozmen, Director of Policy and Engagement, Z2K