School of Social and Political Science

Description

In 2016, the UK’s Conservative government limited the number of children for whom a low-income family could claim a means-tested benefit (worth up to £3,250 per annum) to two. Shortly thereafter, they announced three ‘exceptions’ to this ‘two-child limit’: for multiple births, children living in kinship care, and children born as a result of ‘non-consensual conception’. The final exception, colloquially called the ‘rape clause’, was highly controversial. 

Critics of the policy were dismayed that women could be forced to disclose details of a potentially harrowing ordeal in order to claim subsistence benefits for their families. In apparent deference to these concerns, the Conservatives opted for a ‘third-party evidence model’. In sum, those eligible for a ‘rape clause’ exception are not required to disclose details of their non-consensual encounter to an employee of the Department of Work and Pensions, but must rather seek support from one of a select group of health and social care professionals. These ‘approved third parties’ include GPs, registered social workers, health visitors, and support workers employed by a small number of sexual violence charities.

As of April 2024, 450,000 households were affected by the two-child limit, and 3,100 households were in receipt of a rape clause exception.

In this presentation, I share early findings from BA/Leverhulme-funded research that explores how health and social care professionals in Scotland’s central belt would administer the ‘rape clause’ if asked. I highlight a range of obstacles likely to undermine claimant access to an ‘approved third party’. These include a lack of knowledge or understanding of the policy, rape myth acceptance, the under-resourcing of statutory and third-sector services, waiting lists, and triage. I discuss how disclosures of sexual violence for the purposes of rape clause certification can trigger invasive and unwanted safeguarding processes. I conclude by demonstrating that, in contrast to the state, approved third parties largely favour a victim-centred, trauma-informed understanding of sexual violence. This arguably frustrates the state’s ambitions with respect to the two-child limit, whilst destabilising the need for any kind of evidence collection.

About the Speaker:
Rebecca Hewer is a Chancellor’s Fellow (Lecturer) in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh and a non-practicing barrister in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Her research, which is grounded in gender and sexuality studies, focuses on the socio-legal regulation of women’s bodies and the politics of knowledge production. She is the author of Sex-Work, Prostitution and Policy: A Feminist Discourse Analysis (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).