Engender blog

General Election 2024 - Reforming social security to fight women's poverty

We’re calling on candidates in the upcoming General Election to commit to taking action on four key areas for women if elected.

In our What’s in it for women? four-part series, we’ll break down each of our key asks covering health, social security, equal representation and immigration. 

Today, we’ll focus on social security and why we need reform of household payments of Universal Credit and removal of the two-child limit to fight women’s poverty.

Find and email your local candidates with our pre-written letter here. 

ASK THREE: SOCIAL SECURITY

· Introduce individual ‘split’ payments of Universal Credit

· Abolish the ‘two-child limit’ within Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit

We need a social security system that works for women by reflecting individual needs and circumstances. 

The two-child limit caps the number of children eligible for support from Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit. The limit systematically discriminates against women, putting them in a position of justifying their reproductive choices and family circumstances in order to receive social security. 

Single household payments of Universal Credit to only one person in a household particularly impact disabled women, young women, minority ethnic women, refugee women and unpaid carers, who may not be able to access these household funds.

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights described the UK’s social security system as misogynist. On the design of Universal Credit, he said:

“If you got a group of misogynists together in a room and said ‘how can we make a system that works for men but not women?’ they wouldn’t have come up with too many other ideas than what’s in place”

This discrimination plays a big part in women’s economic inequality. It’s a vicious circle: inequality means that women are twice as likely to be entitled to social security, and the current system perpetuates women’s poverty and extreme need.

Women have shouldered crisis after crisis in the UK: austerity, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis have taken heavily from women’s pockets. It has been especially devastating for disabled women, women of colour, young women and other marginalised groups. We need change now.

Split payments

An independent income is crucial for gender equality. Single household payments of Universal Credit reflect a severely outdated ‘breadwinner-caregiver’ model of family life that replicates stereotypes around the roles women and men are expected to occupy. This model restricts direct access to an independent income for others in the household. This is dangerous for women experiencing domestic abuse, young women and other marginalised groups. 

Women’s organisations have been campaigning for reform since Universal Credit was designed. The new UK Government must finally listen and introduce individual payments as the default.

The Two-child limit

The two-child limit, which was introduced in 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households. The associated exemption, known as the 'rape clause', provides an exemption to the two-child limit where pregnancies have resulted from rape.

The ‘two-child limit’ is an abuse of women’s rights. This limit on aspects of Universal Credit creates poverty and deeper poverty for hundreds and thousands of women and their children across the UK.

It systematically discriminates against women, forcing them to justify reproductive choices and family circumstances to keep their heads above water. Thousands of women have had to disclose rape, with profound impacts on health and wellbeing for many. Women from some Black and minority ethnic communities are more likely to have three or more children.

This abhorrent policy must be scrapped.

WE NEED CHANGE TO MAKE WOMEN'S VOICES HEARD. 

The General Election on 4th July is an opportunity for the next UK Government to prioritise women's rights and equality. Find out if your local candidates are supporting women's rights and the need to reform our social security systems by contacting them directly.

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