Written Question·Department for Work and Pensions·UIN 66055

Social Security Benefits: Children

Tabled: 8 July 2025
Answered: 16 July 2025

Question

Siân Berry

Green PartyBrighton Pavilion

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the evidentiary requirements of the non-consensual exception to the two-child limit on Article (a) 8 and (b) 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Answer

Sir Stephen Timms

The Department recognises the sensitivities surrounding disclosure that a child was likely born of non-consensual conception and has designed processes that reflect this.

All DWP policies are formulated with regard to legal obligations, including those flowing from the ECHR. The current regulations are considered to be compliant with those obligations.