- Conference
- 2018 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 27 September 2017
- Decision
- Carried
Conference deplores the decision of the UK government to limit child tax credit to the first two children, claiming that it wanted “people on benefits to make the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work”.
Conference believes that the restriction of the child tax credit to the first two children is fundamentally wrong, and penalises the children in larger families. It takes no account of the number of “blended” families, where partners may have children from previous relationships; of accidental pregnancy; of women left financially unsupported by their partner – or many other circumstances where women may have more than two children and need support.
Among the few exemptions to the changes is the so-called Rape Clause, for a child born as a result of “non-consensual conception”.
It states that a woman can claim for a third or subsequent child if it was conceived “as a result of a sexual act which you didn’t or couldn’t consent to” or “at a time when you were in an abusive relationship, under ongoing control or coercion by the other parent of the child”.
A woman cannot claim this exemption if she lives with the other parent of the child.
Many women will never disclose rape to anyone, for reasons including trauma, self-protection, shame, and fear for others – including their child. To force them to do so is cruel. In Northern Ireland, where the law requires that all rapes are reported to police, survivors are further forced to engage with the criminal justice system. The demand for a woman to have left the perpetrator in order to claim tax credits reveals a complete lack of understanding of the coercive and controlling behaviour that underpins this crime and the life-threatening risks facing women and children who leave.
Conference believes that the Rape Clause:
• places a stigma on the child;
• forces a woman to admit and prove she has been raped, and to deal with that trauma in a manner which she may not have chosen to do;
• apparently negates the law in that marital rape is a crime, punishable in law, but this benefit does not apply if the woman remains in a relationship with her rapist;
• forces healthcare professional to act as gatekeepers for the benefit system;
• is totally unworkable in practice.
Conference call on the national women’s committee to work with all appropriate bodies and partner organisations, including Labour Link, to lobby the government to reverse the two-child tax credit limit and to withdraw the Rape Clause.