More families ‘being hit by benefit cap’

HUNDREDS more Staffordshire families are being hit by the benefit cap due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and could be facing “impossible” financial decisions this Christmas.

Charity Crisis says ministers must boost benefit levels to match the rapidly rising cost of living to stop more people being pushed into homelessness.

The benefit cap was introduced in 2013 to limit the amount of financial help most working-age people can get. Across Staffordshire, 1,656 households had the amount they receive limited in August, the latest Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures show.

That was up from 821 just before the pandemic struck in February 2020, although it was still slightly fewer than the 1,720 families affected at the end of the previous quarter in May.

Of those affected in August, 1,176 were single-parent households and a further 458 were couples with children. There were at least 5,514 children in families hit by the cap in August, although the real number is likely to be higher as exact figures for larger families are not available. The DWP said some of the young people counted in its figures may not be dependent children, or be covered by benefit payments.

The benefit cap is £20,000 a year or £13,400 for single adults with no children, and can be applied through housing benefit or Universal Credit (UC).

The amount by which affected households on UC had their benefits capped ranged from an average of £56.64 per week in Lichfield to £38.56 in Cannock Chase. Across Britain, every local authority area for which there was available data saw an increase in the number of households hit by the cap between February 2020 and August this year.

Some 179,000 households were affected in August overall, including at least 413,000 children. That was up from 77,000 households in February last year, although it was down slightly from 183,000 in May.

On average, a family on UC had their benefits capped by £54.28 a week, and one on housing benefit by £51.14. Jon Sparkes, chief executive at Crisis, said: “Since the time of this data, we’ve seen the cost of living and renting rapidly rising, putting people under more financial strain, and edging them even closer to homelessness.”

A DWP spokesman said the benefit cap “ensures fairness for hard-working tax-paying households and a strong work incentive, while also providing a much-needed safety net”.