Windfall for jobless as benef it cap lifted
State handout row as £20k limit will now not be applied in Scotland
THOUSANDS of jobless Scots are set for a cash windfall under plans to abolish the benefits cap in Scotland.
Scots households receiving benefits can only be paid a maximum of £20,000 a year for things like income support, child benefit, housing benefit, and jobseekers allowance.
But a raft of welfare powers were devolved to Holyrood and as well as managing carer’s allowance, personal independence payments and housing benefit, they will be able to top up those paid by Westminster.
Now The Scottish Mail on Sunday has learned Scottish ministers inisisted payments will not be covered by the cap. Yesterday, the Department for Work and Pensions said they would not be.
It signals the green light for Scotland having the most generous benefits system in the UK.
The Scottish Government opposes the benefits cap, calling it an ‘ideologically driven assault’ on the poor, while charities say it has left families financially crippled.
The UK Government lowered the cap from £26,000 to £20,000 last year. The number of Scots families affected then soared from 745 in November to 3,705 in May.
Adam Tomkins, Scottish Conservative social security spokesman, said: ‘The cap was brought in to restore fairness to the system. It not only means hardworking families aren’t disadvantaged, but also makes it less likely people out of work get stuck in a damaging cycle of deliberate unemployment.
‘Now it seems the SNP wants to undo all that work, and go back to the situation we had under Labour where it was more lucrative to be out of work than in.’
A Tory source added: ‘The SNP seems determined to make Scotland the benefits capital of the UK. That’s bad for the economy, and bad for those who want to get off welfare support and into work.’
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief John O’Connell said: ‘The welfare system must be there as a safety net for the neediest in society, not a comfort blanket for those more than capable of looking after themselves.’
Ewan Gurr, head of the Trussell Trust in Scotland, said: ‘Evidence from foodbanks found people are being referred whilst experiencing the effects of the benefit cap.
‘The biggest problem identified was that people were less able to pay rent and afford living costs on a suddenly reduced income.’
Graham Whitham, senior policy advisor at Oxfam, added: ‘The benefit cap is a blunt tool that pushes people into greater hardship.’
Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman said: ‘It is unacceptable that the UK Government continues to make its cuts on the back of the poorest.’
THE benefits cap established by the UK Government is unfairly portrayed by its critics as an attack on the poorest in society.
Yet it is actually an attempt to balance compassion for those in need with fairness for those in employment.
Nobody, surely, would argue that it could be right for someone who is fit for work to earn more on the dole than they would if they were in a job?
The benefits cap maintains protection for those who are genuinely unable to work while encouraging others to seek employment.
New research shows that the £20,000 benefits cap – for those living outside London – is a success, with 30,000 UK families moved out of dependency and into the workplace by it.
Unfortunately, opposition politicians have sought to characterise welfare reform as an act of malevolence rather than a display of wise housekeeping.
The SNP has been especially vocal in its opposition to the benefits cap, crudely caricaturing it as cruel and unnecessary.
This line of attack may find favour with the Nationalists’ core support but statistics show that a majority of Scots see the sense in capping benefits.
This reality makes a plan by the SNP to get round the cap doubly baffling.
Ministers at Holyrood are soon to begin exercising new powers over carer’s allowance, personal independence payments and housing benefit. Furthermore, they will be able to top up benefits paid by Westminster.
The Mail on Sunday reveals today that Scottish Ministers are demanding assurances from their UK counterparts that payments made by the Government north of the Border will not be covered by the cap. Such an agreement would mean Scots on benefit could receive considerably more than those elsewhere in the UK.
The SNP may hope such a state of affairs creates the illusion of Scotland as a uniquely compassionate part of the UK but most voters will wonder why their money is being used to make unemployment more appealing than work.