Section:GDN 1N PaGe:5 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 18:33 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •
Uncle Vanya 5
Chekhovian despair
lifted by Everett
Page 13Of cats and men
Unknown Steinbeck
translated from French
Page 20Ministers urged to scrap ‘nasty’
two-child limit on benefi ts
Patrick Butler
Social policy editorCampaigners have called for the gov-
ernment to scrap the “nasty” two-child
limit on benefi ts after the latest offi cial
fi gures showed that nearly 600,
children were aff ected by the policy.
Although the limit was promoted as
a way to persuade people into work,
statistics from the Department for
Work and Pensions published yes-
terday showed those most aff ected
were working families. Of the 161,
households aff ected since the policy
was introduced, 59% had at least one
adult in work.
The limit means the child allow-
ance in universal credit and tax credits- worth £2,780 a year – is paid only for
the fi rst two children in a family. It
does not aff ect children born before
April 2017.
Ministers promoted the policy
as a way to make households take
responsibility, by teaching them that
“children cost money” and discourag-
ing parents from having a third child.
Research published this year found
nearly all families aff ected by the limit- which leaves them £53 a week worse
off – had cut back on essentials such as
food, medication, heating, clothing, as
well as after-school clubs.
Some parents said they had con-
sidered having terminations when
they discovered the policy after get-
ting pregnant.
Alison Garnham, of the Child Pov-
erty Action Group (CPAG), said: “Every
child deserves a good start in life, but
today’s fi gures are a grim reminder
of the human cost of this nasty pol-
icy, which says that some children are
more deserving than others purely
on the basis of their birth order – and
which mostly aff ects working families.
“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?”
Just 4% of families received an
exemption from the two-child limit,
mainly on the basis that the third child
was the result of a multiple birth. There
were 510 exemptions under the “rape
clause” – when the mother proved to
offi cials that the child had been born
as a result of rape.There is concern that the policy will
exacerbate a dramatic rise in families
with at least three children moving
into poverty since 2014 – a nine per-
centage point increase that has yet to
take into account the eff ect of the two-
child policy. According to CPAG, it will
plunge about 300,000 more families
into poverty by 2024, by which time
1.8 million children will be aff ected.
In a letter to the Times yesterday,
109 social policy academics said the
policy was “quite simply one of the
most damaging changes to the social
security system ever”. It had deliv-
ered “unprecedented cuts to the living
standards of the poorest children in
Britain”.
Alison Thewliss , a Scottish National
party MP, said: “Across the UK, the
majority of those who have been
aff ected by the two-child limit are
in work and receiving low income,
highlighting the inaccuracy of the UK
government’s position of pitting work-
ing people against those on benefi ts.”
A government spokesperson said:
“This policy ensures fairness by ask-
ing families receiving benefi ts to face
the same fi nancial choices as fam-
ilies supporting themselves solely
through work. Safeguards are in place
and we’ve made changes this year to
make the policy fairer.”Sneak pe ek A performer strutting her stuff yesterday in the fi rst public run-through of this
month’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Almost 1,200 cast members from all over the world,
including Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, China, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the British
army, will perform in this year’s show, which is in its 69th year and takes place at Edinburgh castle.PHOTOGRAPH:
JEFF MITCHELL/GETTYITV chief tells
MPs Jeremy
Kyle episode
axed over lie
detector fears
Jim Waterson
Media editorAn episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show
was withdrawn after broadcast
because of concerns the programme’s
lie detector test was unreliable amid
continued scrutiny of the tactics used
by the now-cancelled TV show.
ITV’s chief executive, Carolyn
McCall, said the show employed
trained providers to carry out poly-
graph tests on individuals who were
attempting to settle family disputes in
front of an audience, with an expected
accuracy rate of more than 90%.
She said: “We are aware of only
one instance where a guest who had
failed the lie detector test later advised
The Jeremy Kyle Show that they had
taken another test administered by a
diff erent polygraph examiner, which
gave a diff erent result. The episode
was not transmitted again.” The show
was cancelled this year following the
death of a participant, Steve Dymond,
after he failed a lie detector test.
In evidence to the House of Com-
mons digital, culture, media and sport
select committee inquiry into real-
ity television, McCall confi rmed the
producers of The Jeremy Kyle Show
often used the show’s Facebook page
to encourage its 1.2 million followers
to apply to the programme in return
for a free lie detector test.
The committee’s chairman, Damian
Collins, said he was concerned that
on one occasion in late 2018 the pro-
gramme’s makers “used Facebook ads
to fi nd individuals who wanted to take
lie detector or DNA tests”.
“It is particularly concerning that
the production team appeared to be
specifi cally targeting people who were
hoping to resolve a diffi cult personal
situation,” he said.
ITV said th at this was a one-off
incident where it experimented with
paying to boost the audience of a Face-
book post. This suggests the advert
would be mainly seen by fans of The
Jeremy Kyle Show who already liked
the page – as opposed to ITV going out
of its way to target individuals want-
ing to take a polygraph test.▲ Jeremy Kyle’s show was cancelled
after the death of a participant‘Today’s fi gures are
a grim reminder of
the human cost of
this nasty policy’Alison Garnham
Child Poverty Action Groupir
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