Child-related benefits may be 'capped' at two children

Child-related benefits for families may be capped at two children, the work and pensions secretary has said.

Iain Duncan Smith said stopping the current system, where families get more benefits the more children they have, was part of sweeping changes planned.
Families on benefits were often "freed from" the decision of whether they could afford more children, Mr Duncan Smith said, and must "cut their cloth".
But child poverty campaigners expressed concerns at the proposals.
In a speech in Cambridge, Mr Duncan Smith will ask whether families should be able to expect never-ending amounts of money for every child, when working households have to make tough choices about what they can afford.
Ahead of the speech, he told the BBC that the state would continue to support unemployed people who wanted to have children but had to question whether such support should be "endless".
"When you look at families across all incomes, you find the vast majority make decisions about the number of children they have, the families they want, based on what they think they can afford."
Many working families decided against having more children even if they wanted to, for financial reasons, he suggested, while there was a "clustering" of large families on welfare who did not have to confront that reality.
"People who are having support from welfare are often freed from that decision. Can there be not be a limit to the fact you need to cut your cloth in accordance with with what capabilities and finances you have?"
'Tough talk' Asked where a potential cap would be set, Mr Duncan Smith said: "My view, if you did this, you would start it for people who begin to have more than, say, two children".
He rejected suggestions this was about "penalising" people or saving money, insisting it was a question of fairness to those who were in work and paying taxes to support welfare.
Mr Duncan Smith's overarching message is that cultural change is required - both in the minds of those on benefits and in government - so that the welfare system is a springboard into work, rather than something which traps people into a life of dependency.
Campaigners said they were "very worried" about the government's intentions, pointing out that the majority of children in poverty are those whose parents are already working in low-paid jobs.
Labour said the government's "tough talk" could not hide the fact that it was working families who were being penalised.
"Never before have working people paid so much in and got so little back. Yet this government sees fit to give £40,000 to 8,000 millionaires in tax cuts, yet is cutting tax credits so hard that thousands are now better off on benefits.
"We were promised a welfare revolution and all we've got is welfare chaos - chaos that working people are being forced to pay for."