Hannah Davies

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In September 2025, the Northern Health Science Alliance held four events at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. We partnered with politicians, policymakers and Government representatives to bring the North's pressing health issues to the forefront of our Government.

The two-child limit remains the single biggest driver of child poverty in the UK today. It restricts Universal Credit and Tax Credit payments to the first two children in a family, therefore punishing parents for having a third child and deepening hardship for millions.

In September 2025, we held a panel event at the Labour Party Conference 2025, held with the University of York's York Policy Engine, Health Equity North and Child of the North. In this event we explored how national policy and local strategies can work hand-in-hand to reduce child poverty and close the health and opportunity gap experienced by children across the UK, particularly those in the North of England.

Today (Wednesday November 26, 2025) Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP announced in the Autumn Budget that, from April 2026, the Government will be lifting the two-child benefit cap. The cap was imposed in 2017 and meant families could not claim Universal Credit for third and more children born after 6 April 2017. The removal of this harmful cap has long been championed by Health Equity North and Child of the North, and its leaders have issued statements following this news:

Today (Wednesday November 26, 2025) Chancellor announced in the Autumn Budget that, from April 2026, the Government will be lifting the two-child benefit cap. This news has been warmly welcomed by the Child of the North All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), who have been pushing for this change since the APPG's inception. Its Chair, Emma Lewell MP, has issued a statement following the announcement:

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP announced in the Autumn Budget that, from April 2026, the Government will remove the two-child benefit cap. Introduced in 2017, the cap blocked Universal Credit payments for third and subsequent children born after 6 April 2017.

New analysis from Health Equals , a coalition of more than 100 organisations including employment and education groups, reveals that where young people live, their financial circumstances and their parents' education can all have a profound effect on their life chances.

‘Health for Wealth: Building a Healthier North to Boost Productivity' , published by Health Equity North (HEN), shows people in the North are twice as likely to lose their job after ill-health than those in the rest of England, with low skilled workers hit hardest.

Pauline Quirke’s actor son Charlie Quirke talks exclusively about his mum’s dementia diagnosis and why he’s taking on an emotional marathon challenge for Alzheimer’s Research UK…