Five-hundred and ten women have been forced to sign the controversial “rape clause” in order to be exempted from the two-child benefits cap, new figures reveal.
Two years ago ministers controversially capped at two the number of children parents could claim benefits for.
The government argued that benefits claimants “should face the same financial choices about having children” as working families.
Women who had given birth as a result of rape were exempted – but they had to reveal their assault in order to avoid the cap.
The so-called rape clause was branded “traumatic” and “immoral” by campaigners.
SNP MP Alison Thewliss – who has campaigned for the end of the benefits cap – said the data “paints a bleak picture” of families suffering as a result of the policy.
“All of these women have been put in a position where they’ve had to tell a stranger that their child was conceived as a result of rape or coercion, just to make ends meet,” she said.
“Of course, it’s likely that the actual figure would be much higher if women weren’t forced to go through this daunting process.”
Meanwhile, the data showed that since the policy was introduced, 161,000 households had been impacted, with 97% now not receiving benefits for at least one child.
It means that 592,000 children now live in families hit by the cap – almost a quarter of whom live in households with five or more kids.
The figures from the department of work and pensions come on the same day that dozens of academics signed a letter to The Times calling the two-child limit “simply one of the most damaging changes to the social security system ever”.
“The two-child limit breaks the fundamental link between need and the provision of minimum support,” they wrote. “It implies that some children, by virtue of their birth order, are less deserving of support.”
With an extra 300,000 kids expected to be pushed into poverty by the cap by 2024, the policy “means unprecedented cuts to the living standards of the poorest children in Britain”, they added.
Responding to the data, Alison Garnham – chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group – said: “In the UK we would never turn a third-born child away from school or hospital. How can it be right to deny the same young children the support they need to enjoy a childhood free from poverty when their family falls on hard times?
“The two-child limit undermines family life and leaves children without support in their vital early years, when the foundations are being laid for their future development. The government should lift the two-child limit to help all children thrive.”
Following a backlash from MPs, work and pensions secretary abolished the planned policy, saying it was “not right”.
