Worcester foodbank manager hits out at two-child benefit cap

A food bank manager has criticised the UK’s two-child benefit cap, saying many families in Worcester are struggling with food poverty.

Grahame Lucas, manager of Worcester Foodbank, spoke out as 11 charities including the national Trussell Trust food bank charity wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves urging her to make a commitment in next week’s spending review to abolish the limit.

He said in Worcester “an awful lot of families just haven’t got sufficient money” to pay for household essentials.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which said it was “determined to bring down child poverty”, is expected to announce its decision on the cap in the autumn.

The letter sent by the charities to the chancellor claimed the two-child limit had pulled 37,000 children into poverty since the government took office.

“The cap was not the right thing to be doing. It hits families unfairly and just causes them more problems with poverty, and particularly food poverty,” Mr Lucas continued.

“We see at ground level and particularly see it in Worcester, a large number of families that are struggling, families that don’t have enough income.

“The two-child benefit cap just exacerbates that and causes more families to be in food poverty and… roughly 40% of the people we feed are children.”

Mr Lucas said rising food costs had been a key problem and the cost-of-living crisis generally had caused more people to seek help.

The BBC has approached the DWP for a response to Mr Lucas’s comments.