Good afternoon. Welcome back to Survival Guide. I’m Isabella McRae.

The Labour government won the vote on its controversial welfare bill yesterday evening, meaning it will now progress to being made law. It has been majorly watered down over the last couple of weeks, and a lot of the biggest cuts to disability benefits have been dropped.

It is a huge win for disabled people and campaigners – and any of you who have raised your voice, whether that be writing to your MP, sharing your story with us at the Big Issue, or shouting about it online should be very proud of what you have achieved.

There are of course still concerns, specifically around the cuts to the health element of universal credit for new claimants. Current claimants will be protected from the cuts, but it will still affect around 750,000 people by the end of the decade.

I’ve broken everything down about what to expect next in this article and I also spoke to the BBC’s Access All podcast in the aftermath of the vote last night here.

In this week’s newsletter, I explain what official stats (released this morning) on the two-child limit say about the impact of the policy on the nation’s children. And Big Issue reporter Lottie Elton meets young protesters who want millionaires to pay their fair share.

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

Meet the furious Gen Z protesters who want the super-rich to pay their fair share: 'We have a voice'

Lottie joined Green New Deal Rising for a National Day of Protest.

Their campaign, PAY UP, targets the UK’s super-rich. They point out that the 50 wealthiest families now hold more wealth than the poorest half of the country. Their argument is that taxation could rectify this imbalance. 

More than 200 young people staged 20 coordinated actions across the UK, targeting billionaire and multi-millionaire bosses like Jim Ratcliffe (INEOS), Denise Coates (BET365), and James Watt (BrewDog).

“A year into this government, and it just feels like Tory austerity,” said protester Laura Hannah, 26. “Instead of cutting welfare, they could tax the ultra-rich.”

Read more of what they had to say here.

In case you missed it

Sky-high rents mean ageing tenants 'won't be able to retire' – adding billions to the benefits bill. Pensioners stuck in the private rented sector risk not being able to retire with the ageing generation rent posing a threat to the UK economy. Read more.

Young people struggling to afford food face 'stigma' when seeking help: 'We don't feel welcome'. New research shows that one in five young people are in a family that has struggled to afford food in the last six months. That's as many as 2.5 million. Get the story.

'It's easier to buy a vape than an apple': How greengrocers on wheels could change the UK. The government is providing millions of pounds of funding to projects tackling food inequality across the UK – including mobile greengrocer Queen of Greens. Read about it.

Whatever happened to Make Poverty History? Make Poverty History was a grassroots campaign that changed the world and received support from hundreds of thousands of Brits. I spoke to the campaigners who were at its heart. Find out more.

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One in nine children are now impacted by the two-child limit on benefits

New government figures show that more than 1.6 million children were impacted by the two-child limit on benefits in the year up to April 2025. It now impacts one in nine children across the UK.

“Many of these are children going for days without a hot meal, sleeping in rooms covered in black mould or going to school in shoes that don’t fit,” said Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo’s.

A record 4.3 million children are currently living in poverty in the UK, and the two-child limit on benefits is believed to be trapping hundreds of thousands of these children in hardship.

The policy blocks families from getting any extra universal credit or child tax credits for their third child and any subsequent children born after April 2017.

Earlier this week, Save the Children organised a bold stunt projecting images across the Houses of Parliament and King’s Cross – which is in Keir Starmer’s constituency – with key statistics calling on the prime minister to axe the two-child limit on benefits. You can read about that here.

And read the full details of how the two-child limit is impacting children here.

Inside this week's Big Issue magazine

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Big Issue Team