6th October 2025
In a recent article on the Politics Home website, UNICEF UK is calling on the UK governments to address early childhood inequality to ensure every child has a fair start in life. This includes investment in children’s health services, including health visiting.
Evidence shows that, for children, early moments matter. A child’s first months and years shape their whole life, with inequalities during the early years impacting a whole host of future outcomes, from their mental and physical health to attainment and earning potential. However, years of rising costs and declining support and services have left families with young children across the UK in crisis.
UNICEF UK calls for:
- An immediate end to the two-child limit and benefit cap is a critical first step and the most effective way to reduce child poverty. It would lift 400,000 children out of poverty immediately, while improving the living standards of over a million more children.
- Increase investment in early childhood support services to mitigate the impacts of poverty. This must include restoring investment in children’s health services, including in health visiting, to ensure all young families have access to support and advice when they need it most, and expanding the 30 hours of government funded childcare to all families, regardless of employment or asylum status.
Jo Rea, Director of Advocacy at UNICEF UK, commented:
The UK Government has committed giving every child the best start in life, but it can’t do this without lifting babies and toddlers out of poverty. The government’s upcoming plan for poverty must begin with an end to the two-child limit on benefits for all children, which disproportionately affects those under 5.
