Good morning. Hundreds of thousands of children could be immediately lifted out of poverty if the government dropped one welfare policy.

The two-child limit on benefits has been all over the news recently as MPs, charities and campaigners have ramped up their calls for Labour to scrap it. 

Introduced by the Conservative government in 2015, the policy means that low-income families are denied financial support for their third and subsequent children.

So why is Labour refusing to budge? It would cost around £3.6bn to drop the two-child limit – but that’s only around 1% of the welfare bill and the long-term costs of entrenched child poverty are “staggering” at around £39bn annually.

As pressure builds on the government ahead of the Autumn Statement, during which chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce her plans for the public finances, the Big Issue will platform the voices of those most impacted by the policy and put them at the heart of the conversation.

In this week’s newsletter, we meet Thea, a mum of three children, who is struggling to cope financially because of the two-child limit on benefits.

It can be even more difficult for parents over the costly summer holidays. Read to the end for more of our Summer Survival Guide, where we share tips on how to find affordable childcare  this school break.

If you have a story to share, we want to listen. Get in touch at isabella.mcrae@bigissue.com or share your story here.

Thea's story: 'It's like wearing a scarlet letter'

Thea is stressed when I call her. She is in a cafe trying to find a treat for her son, the eldest of her three children, but she is struggling to find something he wants and she can afford.

“As a parent, you hold nothing back to protect your kids and to make them feel loved and safe,” the 38-year-old says when she returns my call. “I’m really stretching myself to make sure my kids don’t feel like they have less than the kids they go to school with.”

Thea’s children are among more than 1.6 million impacted by the two-child limit on benefits.

Charities have called it “one of the cruellest welfare policies of the last decade”, with low-income families losing £3,455 a year for a third or subsequent child born after April 2017.

“There’s this guilt placed on you, like you’re a bad person and now you have to pay the consequences for the rest of your children’s lives because you messed up,” Thea says.

“It’s like wearing a scarlet letter. It just feels like everybody wants to see me as some freeloader who messed up, who thought that the world would take care of the extra child. Parents do not need this messaging.”

Read Thea’s story and more about the impact of the two-child limit on benefits.

Are you impacted by the two-child limit on benefits? We want to tell your story. Get in touch with me at isabella.mcrae@bigissue.com or share your story here.

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How to save money on childcare over the summer holidays

Childcare can be expensive over the holidays. Many employers don’t offer enough flexibility, and not everyone has family living locally who they can rely on for affordable childcare.

Coram Family and Childcare’s latest annual holiday childcare survey found that families are now spending an average of £175 each week on childcare per child.

But fortunately, there are options for affordable childcare over the summer holidays – check out our advice here.

And just a reminder, we are still running the Big Issue’s Summer Survival Guide which is jam packed with helpful tips to help you navigate the costly school holidays.