The data outlines how many families and children were impacted, the characteristics of affected households, and the number of claimants who qualified for exemptions. According to the DWP, the Government removed the Universal Credit two-child limit policy in April 2026 as part of its efforts to tackle child poverty and reduce financial hardship.
The final release, published on 9 July, recorded 495,990 Universal Credit households affected by the policy in April 2026. The statistics also show that 1,752,200 children were impacted, including 1,695,400 children living in households that did not receive a child element for at least one child because of the policy.
Final Figures Show the Scale of the Policy’s Impact
According to the DWP, a household was considered affected if it had at least three children, with at least one child born on or after 6 April 2017. Between April 2025 and April 2026, the number of affected Universal Credit families increased by 15,700.
Among the 495,990 affected households, 478,120, representing 96 per cent, were not receiving the child element for at least one child. The child element is an additional payment made through Universal Credit to help families with the costs of raising children. The figures also provide a breakdown of household types. Just over half of those affected, 55 per cent, were single-adult households, while the remaining 45 per cent were couple households.
Family size also varied across the claimants included in the statistics. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, 64 per cent of affected households had three children. A further 25 per cent had four children, eight per cent had five children, and four per cent had six or more children.
Thousands of Households Qualified for Policy Exemptions
The statistical release also examined households that met one of the recognised exceptions to the two-child limit. As of April 2026, 29,460 Universal Credit households had at least one exemption recorded.
The largest category was the multiple birth exception, applying to 19,460 households. The figures also identified 3,630 households with a non-parental care exception and 2,340 households with an adoption exception.
A further 4,140 households were recorded under the non-consensual conception exception, according to the DWP. These exemptions formed part of the policy throughout the period covered by the final statistical release.
The Department for Work and Pensions also stated that the removal of the two-child limit could result in an additional 436,780 households receiving an increase in their Universal Credit payment. The figures published on 9 July represent the final official statistics relating to the policy before its abolition and provide a record of the number of households and children affected at the point it came to an end.
