Royal Assent granted to the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

The Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 18 March 2026, the legislation.gov.uk text of the Act states¹. The Act removes the two child limit on the child element of Universal Credit¹. Sections 1 and 2 come into force on 6 April 2026, and the amendments have effect for assessment periods commencing on or after that date¹.

The limit had applied since 6 April 2017, when the child element became available for a maximum of two children or qualifying young people for whom a claimant was responsible³. The Department for Work and Pensions explanatory notes state that the change will increase the amount of welfare support available to families on UC with three or more children and aims to reduce the number of children living in poverty³. The 2025-26 rate of child element is £292.81 per monthly assessment period for most children, with a rate of £339.00 per monthly assessment period for first children born before 6 April 2017³. An assessment period is one month³.

The Act repeals the exceptions regime that sat alongside the limit. In Great Britain, regulation 24A, regulation 24B and Schedule 12 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 are revoked; equivalent Northern Ireland provisions, regulation 25A, regulation 25B and Schedule 12 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, are also revoked¹. The explanatory notes state that removal of the limit in UC also removes all associated exceptions⁴.

The Act is in three sections. Section 1 extends to England and Wales and Scotland only; section 2 extends to Northern Ireland only¹. The explanatory notes state that the provision is wholly reserved in England, Scotland and Wales and wholly transferred in Northern Ireland, and that the Act legislates on behalf of Northern Ireland to make equivalent changes³. Removal of the two child limit will cost £3.0bn in 2029/30, according to the explanatory notes, and is part of a package of measures from the Child Poverty Strategy 2025 to reduce the number of children living in relative poverty after housing costs by the end of this Parliament, compared with a 2023/24 baseline³.

In Northern Ireland, a separate Statutory Rule makes consequential amendments to social security regulations, coming into operation on the same day as the Act, 6 April 2026⁴. Regulation 2 of that Rule amends regulations 20 and 21 of the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 to remove the two child limit in the calculation of the Housing Benefit award for working age claimants⁴. The Department for Communities explanatory memorandum states the measure affects only working age claimants who are not entitled to UC, as those entitled to means-tested benefits are passported to the maximum eligible amount of HB⁴. It adds that no amendments to pension age HB regulations are required because the two child limit for pension age HB claimants was removed in June 2024⁴. The corresponding Great Britain instrument is the Social Security (Removal of Two Child Limit) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026, which come into force on 6 April 2026⁴. The Northern Ireland memorandum states that the GB regulations were subsequently made and laid on 19th March, and that the laying of the Statutory Rule will breach the 21-day rule as it was not possible to bring the proposals forward earlier⁴.

Why it matters for households

Households on Universal Credit with three or more children or qualifying young people will have an amount included in the UC calculation for all of them, rather than for a maximum of two, for assessment periods starting on or after 6 April 2026³. The change applies in England, Scotland and Wales under section 1 and in Northern Ireland under section 2¹. Because the associated exceptions are revoked, the separate rules that previously allowed a child element for a third or subsequent child in specific circumstances, such as multiple birth, adoption or non-consensual conception, no longer apply⁴. In Northern Ireland, working age Housing Benefit claimants who are not entitled to UC will have all their children included in their HB award⁴. The two-child limit and its exceptions page sets out how the limit operated before this change.

What happens next

The Act's substantive sections take effect on 6 April 2026¹. The Secretary of State may make transitional or saving provision by statutory instrument in connection with section 1, and the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland may do the same by statutory rule for section 2¹. The Northern Ireland explanatory memorandum states that internal guidance for Department for Communities staff will be updated to take account of the changes⁴.