Two mothers have lost a second legal bid to challenge the previous rules surrounding the so-called "rape clause" of the two-child benefit cap at the Court of Appeal. The cap, which was removed in April, previously allowed universal credit recipients to claim benefits for more than two children only if the third or subsequent child was conceived non-consensually.
This left some women ineligible for the exception, including those whose first two children were conceived through rape but whose later children were conceived consensually. The mothers had already lost a High Court challenge against the Department for Work and Pensions in July last year, with Mrs Justice Collins Rice stating the issue was "a policy question" and not for the courts to decide.
Court of Appeal Ruling
The women took their case to the Court of Appeal, where their barristers argued in a hearing last month that the previous rules were not justified. However, in a ruling on Thursday, three senior judges—Lord Justice Lewis, Lady Justice Andrews, and Sir Stephen Cobb—unanimously dismissed the appeal. They acknowledged that both women had been "the subject of horrific, violent and abusive behaviour at the hands of their former partners," but found the provisions were "proportionate and justified."
Lord Justice Lewis stated: "I doubt that mothers of non-consensually conceived children who have a consensually conceived third, or subsequent, child are in an analogous position with mothers of two consensually-conceived children who then have a third, or subsequent, non-consensually conceived child, for the purposes of the exception. The two groups are not in relevantly similar circumstances. The operation of the exception depends on the circumstances as at the time that the third or subsequent child is conceived. At that time, the two groups are in a different position: one parent has a choice, one does not."
Impact on Affected Mothers
One of the women conceived her two eldest children through rape. She was told she could not claim the child element of universal credit for her third and fourth children, both conceived consensually in a later long-term relationship. Initially, she received the benefit for the third child, but it was rescinded after the fourth child was born. The second mother, who has six children, was subjected to domestic abuse and violent, coercive behaviour by former partners.
The two-child benefit cap was introduced by the Conservatives in 2017. The Government announced last year that it would scrap the policy, a move expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty. However, the Tories said in March that they would reintroduce the cap if re-elected and use the savings to boost defence spending.
