The government’s child poverty strategy, which had been due for publication in the spring, has been delayed.
The Child Poverty Taskforce is still working on the strategy and has been considering, among other measures, whether to scrap the two-child benefit cap, a move some Labour MPs have long been calling for.
The BBC has been told the strategy could be set out in the autumn in time for the Budget, allowing ministers to say how any policy changes would be paid for.
A spokesperson said the government was “determined to bring down child poverty” and committed to publishing a strategy “later this year”.
The Child Poverty Taskforce – which is being co-chaired by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson – was launched last July.
It came at a time when the prime minister was coming under pressure from the SNP and some of his own MPs to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The policy – which prevents most…
