Social Justice Secretary writes to counterpart seeking early engagement
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has written to Liz Kendall, the UK Work and Pensions Secretary, to follow up on the commitment to scrap the two-child limit from 2026.
The Scottish Government’s plan to mitigate the limit on Universal Credit, announced as part of the 2025-26 budget, will require cooperation from the Department for Work and Pensions to enable systems development and data-sharing.
In the letter to Ms Kendall, Ms Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and we believe that this policy will be a key driver in delivering that mission.
“The Scottish Government is committing the resources required to begin the preparatory work in the coming financial year with a view to making the first mitigation payments in 2026-27.
“The Finance Secretary was careful to note that co-operation with your Department will be necessary, which I understand will primarily need to centre around systems development and data sharing.
“We will also want to work with you to ensure that any mitigation payments are disregarded as income for benefit calculations. The Scottish Government is keen to progress this work as soon as possible. I would therefore be keen to meet before Christmas to discuss our policy and how, together, we might best be kept appraised of progress as officials take forward this work.”
