Official Statistics

Universal Credit claimants statistics on the two child limit policy, April 2025

Updated 10 July 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Main Stories

The statistics show:

• in April 2025, 469,780 Universal Credit households were affected by the two child limit policy: that is, they had a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017. This was an increase of 13,520 (3%) from the total number of households affected on either Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit in April 2024. There were 1,665,540 children living in the households affected in April 2025, an increase of 37,150 (2%) from the total number of children living in the households affected on either Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit in April 2024
• there were 453,600 Universal Credit households that were not receiving the child element for at least one child because of the policy, with 1,613,980 children living in these households
• 26,300 households had an exception to the two child limit policy. The most common reason for an exception was for multiple births, accounting for 17,730 households (or 67% of those with an exception)
• the number of households affected by the policy has increased since the first statistics were published in 2018, as more children have been born since 6 April 2017 into families with at least two existing children
• Child Tax Credit closed in April 2025, which means the two child limit policy now only applies to Universal Credit. Therefore, there are no new statistics for Child Tax Credits in this publication

What you should know

Since 6 April 2017, families on Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit have been able to claim support for up to two children. There is further entitlement for third or subsequent children if they were born before 6 April 2017 or if an exception applies.

There are four categories of exception:

• additional children in a multiple birth where an extra amount will be payable for all children in a multiple birth other than the first child
• likely to have been born as a result of non-consensual conception, which for this purpose includes rape or where the claimant was in a controlling or coercive relationship with the child’s other biological parent at the time of conception

An exception also applies for any children in a household who are:

• adopted when they would otherwise be in local authority care
• in non-parental caring arrangements when they would otherwise be at risk of entering the care system, including where a child (under 16) has a child

Child Tax Credit closed in April 2025, which means the two child limit policy now only applies to Universal Credit.

Further information and guidance on these statistics is available in the background information and methodology document.

Overall numbers of households affected by two child limit policy

In April 2025, 469,780 UC households were affected by the two child limit policy (see Table 1), an increase of 13,520 (3%) in the total number of households affected on either Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit since April 2024. A household is affected by the policy if they have at least three children, at least one of whom was born on or after 6th April 2017.

Of the 469,780 affected households, 453,600 households (97%) were not receiving child element for at least one child in their household and 26,300 households (6%) had an exception to the policy. Households can both have an exception for one child and not receive child element for another child, therefore the percentages do not total to 100%.

There were 1,665,540 children in households affected by the policy and 1,613,980 in households not receiving some child element because of the policy.

The 469,780 households affected by the policy represents 72% of all households with three or more children claiming UC. This proportion is likely to increase over time as more households with three or more children include a child born on or after 6 April 2017.

Table 1: Total number of households in receipt of Universal Credit affected by the two child limit policy, April 2025

	UC households	All children within affected UC households	Affected children within UC households
All households in receipt of UC with three or more children	651,300	1,665,540	597,920
Affected households (reporting a third or subsequent child on or after 6 April 2017)	469,780	1,665,540	597,920
Households not receiving a child element/amount for at least one child	453,600	1,613,980	580,400
Households in receipt of an exception	26,300	98,480	41,170

Note: Affected children are third and subsequent children born on or after 6th April 2017. Affected households have at least one affected child.

Numbers of households affected by two child limit policy over time

In the year since the last publication there has been a net increase of 13,520 households affected by the two child limit policy, (see chart 1). This was an increase of 3%.

Child Tax Credit closed in April 2025, and many CTC claimants have moved to UC. For statistics on CTC and the totals of UC and CTC for 2024 and earlier see the 2024 release of these statistics.

The increase in Universal Credit households affected by the two child limit policy since April 2024 was 84,240, or 22%.

Chart 1: Number of Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit households affected by the two child limit policy, by year to April 2025

The total number of households with three or more children, including children born before 6 April 2017, reduced from 721,380 households in April 2024 to 651,300 households in April 2025, (see chart 2).

This was a net decrease of 70,080 (-10%) of households with three or more children on UC or CTC, while UC increased by 81,300 (14%).

This increase in the number of UC households with three or more children is as expected due to some CTC households moving to UC, with the fall in the total volume of households with three or more children driven by CTC claims that did not move to UC.

Chart 2: Number of Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit or with three or more children, by year to April 2025

Exceptions to the two child limit policy

In April 2025, 26,300 households claiming Universal Credit had at least one exception to the two child limit policy (see Chart 3).

Of these, 17,730 households (67% of those with an exception) had a multiple birth exception, 3,280 households (12%) had a non-parental care exception, 1,740 households (7%) households had an adoption exception, and 3,670 households (14%) had a non-consensual conception exception. Because a household may have different exceptions for different children, the percentages do not total to 100%.

Chart 3: Number of Universal Credit households with an exception to the two child limit policy, by type of exception, April 2025

	UC households with exceptions to the policy	% of UC households with exceptions to the policy
Multiple birth	17,730	67%
Non-parental care	3,280	12%
Adoption	1,740	7%
Non-consensual conception	3,670	14%

Family composition

Just over half (54%) of households affected by the policy are single households and just under half (46%) are couple households.

Most households affected by the policy (63%) had three children, 25% had four children, 8% had five children and 4% of households had six or more children.

Chart 4: Number of Universal Credit households affected by the two child limit policy, by family composition, April 2025

	UC households affected by the policy	% of affected UC households
Single UC claim	251,830	54%
Couple UC claim	217,960	46%
3 children	297,310	63%
4 children	117,190	25%
5 children	37,020	8%
6 or more children	18,260	4%

In work and out of work

Over half (59%) of households affected by the policy are in work (i.e. they have earnings).

Chart 5: Number of Universal Credit households affected by the two child limit policy, by work status, April 2025

	UC households affected by the policy	% of affected UC households
In work	275,820	59%
Out of work	193,960	41%

Benefit cap

38,200 (8%) of households affected by the two child limit policy are also affected by the benefit cap. There are a total of 141,290 children living in those households, of which 53,510 children are third or subsequent children directly affected by the two child limit policy.

Claimant characteristics

For additional breakdowns by gender, age, ethnicity, and ethnic group, see the accompanying data tables.

Gender

Of households affected by the two child limit policy, 98% had at least one female claimant, and 47% had at least one male claimant. These figures do not add up to 100%, because many couple households contain both a female and male claimant.

Ethnicity and Ethnic Group

This is being released as statistics in development. We welcome feedback from users on this and other developments.

Of households affected by the two child limit policy that responded to a question about their ethnicity, the largest ethnic group was White, where 70% had at least one claimant in the White ethnic group, and 64% had at least one claimant in the White British ethnic subgroup (see the accompanying data tables). The second largest ethnic group was Asian, where 15% had at least one claimant in the Asian ethnic group.

These figures exclude the “unspecified” 17% of households affected by the policy that did not respond to the question or answered “prefer not to say”.

Chart 6: Households affected by two child limit policy by ethnic group, April 2025

	UC households affected by the policy	% of affected UC households where at least one claimant responded
Household with a white claimant	271,390	70%
Household with an asian claimant	58,820	15%
Household with a black claimant	30,720	8%
Household with an arab claimant	10,290	3%
Household with a mixed ethnicity claimant	12,070	3%
Household with a claimant of other ethnicity	16,490	4%
Household with a claimant of unspecified ethnicity	114,950	-
Household where all claimants are of unspecified ethnicity	81,300	-

Health and disability benefits

Information is available on health and disability benefits here:

For information on extra amounts on UC for a disabled child, or a claimant with limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA), see Universal Credit: What you’ll get.

For information on Disability Living Allowance, see Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

For information on Disability Living Allowance for children, see Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children

For information on Personal Independence Payment, see Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

Limited capability for work element of UC

67,580 (14%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had at least one claimant that qualifies for an extra monthly amount of UC health/LCWRA element. This group includes households with at least one claimant that had limited capability for work or work related activity (LCWRA), and households with at least one claimant awarded limited capability for work (LCW) before 2017. There are a total of 241,780 children living in those households.

Disabled child element of UC

129,630 (28%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had at least one child that is disabled and qualifies for an extra monthly amount of UC disabled child element. There are a total of 479,460 children living in those households.

Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

260 (less than 1%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had a claimant in receipt of DLA. There are a total of 940 children living in those households.

112,760 (24%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had at least one child in receipt of DLA. There are a total of 417,830 children living in those households.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

65,280 (14%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had at least one claimant in receipt of PIP. There are a total of 235,270 children living in those households.

9,720 (2%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had at least one child in receipt of PIP. There are a total of 38,750 children living in those households.

Households receiving any health or disability benefits

189,480 (40%) of households affected by the two child limit policy had at least one claimant or child with any of the following health and disability benefits: health (or LCWRA) element of UC, disabled child element of UC, DLA or PIP. There are a total of 689,590 children living in those households.

Chart 7: Households affected by two child limit policy and receiving health and disability benefits, April 2025

	UC households affected by the policy	% of affected UC households
Household with at least one claimant or child with any of the following health or disability benefits:	189,480	40%
Claimant receiving health/LCWRA element of UC	67,580	14%
Child receiving disabled child element of UC	129,630	28%
Claimant receiving DLA	260	less than 1%
Child receiving DLA	112,760	24%
Claimant receiving PIP	65,280	14%
Child receiving PIP	9,720	2%

Geography

The number of households with an exception, as a proportion of the number of households affected by the policy, is similar in all countries and regions of the UK, although there is more variation at a lower geographical level.

For additional breakdowns by country, region, parliamentary constituency and local authority, see the accompanying data tables.

Feedback

We welcome feedback.

We are committed to improving the official statistics we publish. We want to encourage and promote user engagement, so we can improve our statistical outputs. We would welcome any views you have using the following contact information.

We are considering whether to put these statistics on the DWP statistical tool Stat-Xplore. We would appreciate feedback on this proposed change.

DWP Press Office

For media enquiries, please contact the DWP press office.

Statistical contacts

S Lewis, G Walmsley: ucad.briefinganalysis@dwp.gov.uk

We are only able to reply to questions about the statistics.