IMPACT OF TWO CHILD RESTRICTION ON FAMILIES

That this House recognises the damaging effects that the two-child restriction on universal credit and child tax credits is having, and will continue to have, on families across the UK; notes that the impact will be particularly acute in Northern Ireland where, according to Office for National Statistics data, the average family size is 2.96, the largest of any of the UK countries; further notes that as of 2015 it was estimated that there were 122,400 families with three or more children; is concerned that women in Northern Ireland face a specific risk applying for a non-consensual sex exemption, due to the Criminal Law Act 1967 stating that third-party referrers are legally obliged to disclose that a woman has been raped when completing paperwork, and that doing so can lead to women being placed in danger of violence and sexual assault; welcomes that the British Medical Association has offered to support members if they do not wish to comply with the third-party referral mechanism; acknowledges that the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers and Women's Aid Federation Northern Ireland, have serious concerns about the policy and have vehemently opposed it; and calls on the Government to scrap the two-child restriction without further delay and to end the suffering of thousands of families across the UK.