Mitigation of the two-child cap
Feedback updated 11 Jun 2025
We asked
We held a public consultation seeking views on the Scottish Government's proposals to mitigate the two-child limit in Universal Credit in Scotland. The consultation opened on 21 February 2025 and closed on 18 April 2025.
We asked four questions about:
- whether Social Security Scotland should deliver payments to mitigate the two-child cap in Scotland;
- whether the powers at s79 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 to top-up Universal Credit should be used to mitigate the two-child cap;
- whether payments to mitigate the two-child cap should be disregarded as income by the UK Government; and
- any potential impacts of the proposed approach outlined in the consultation on different groups of people, communities and businesses.
We also held a workshop with people who have lived experience of the two-child limit on Universal Credit to supplement the online consultation.
You said
A total of 267 responses were received. Most consultation responses were from individuals, with 42 responses from organisations. A range of organisations responded including third sector organisations, local authorities and representative bodies.
During the workshop event attendees shared their answers to the consultation questions. Their insights were considered alongside the formal consultation responses.
We did
We commissioned an independent research company, Wellside Research, to conduct the analysis of the consultation responses and their analysis report has been published on the Scottish Government website. We have published the consultation responses, where permission has been given to do this, on Citizen Space.
The Scottish Government is committed to effectively scrapping the impact of the two-child cap in 2026. We are working at pace to begin payments as soon as possible.
Published responses
View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.
Overview
This consultation seeks views on the Scottish Government’s proposed approach to mitigate the two-child cap policy applied by the UK Government. The two-child cap restricts support through Universal Credit (UC) to the first two children in a family except in some limited circumstances. The Scottish Government is committed to developing systems to alleviate the impact of the two-child cap in Scotland in 2026. The consultation paper sets out more fully the proposed approach which intends to deliver mitigation payments at pace and in line with the Scottish social security principles.
The Scottish Government is proposing to mitigate the two-child cap in Scotland by making a flat-rate payment equal to the UC child element for each third and subsequent child in Scotland.
Mitigation of the two-child cap is not a straightforward task. It will require significant policy and technical work to develop and implement an appropriate solution. This includes co-operation from the UK Government around systems development, data sharing and legislation. The technical delivery of the mitigation must carefully consider risks, issues and dependencies such as data sharing with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The Social Security Programme has commenced the ‘discovery’ phase of the project, which will impact delivery options, including joint work with DWP to agree, build and test additional data sharing functions and create a joint delivery plan.
The responses to this consultation, alongside the outputs of that discovery process, will inform the Scottish Government’s approach to drafting the legislation that will be necessary to deliver the payments.
Read the consultation paper. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.
Useful information about responding to this consultation
As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.
Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.
On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.
After the consultation has closed there will be a delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.
An analysis report will be published after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. You can also join our consulation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).
Why your views matter
We want to gather your views on the proposals to deliver mitigation payments to people in Scotland impacted by the UK Government’s two-child cap.
Your views will help to refine and develop the proposals laid out in the consultation. Responding to this consultation offers you the valuable opportunity to to help shape how the Scottish Government takes forward this important part of the fight against child poverty in Scotland.
The responses to this consultation will be analysed and used to inform the Scottish Government’s approach to drafting the legislation that will be necessary to deliver the payments. Once the responses have been analysed we will provide a further update to explain our next steps.
What happens next
This consultation has now closed.
The responses to this consultation are now being analysed and will be used to inform the Scottish Government’s approach to drafting the legislation required to deliver the payments.
Once the analysis of responses has been completed we will provide a further update to explain our next steps.
Interests
- Children and Families
- Communities and Third Sector
- Equality, Welfare and Rights
- Main hub
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