Remove ‘cruel’ benefits cap for 4 in 5, say MPs

FOUR out of five households subject to the benefit cap should be removed from its scope as they cannot escape it, MPs have urged ministers.

The work and pensions select committee called on the Government to apply the limit on the total amount of benefits a person can get only to those who are expected to be looking for work.

It warned that only 18 per cent of those affected by the cap have been assessed by the Department for Work and Pensions as capable of looking for work. That means 82 per cent of households are deemed unable to escape the limit and so should be removed from it, they said.

In a report on the benefit cap, the committee said: ‘The Government told Parliament the cap was meant for people who could work but were choosing not to.

‘But in fact the majority of people who are affected by the cap have been assessed by the DWP as not being required to look for work, usually because they are lone parents with young children or have an illness or disability.’

Committee chairman Frank Field said: ‘It would be difficult to think of a more cruel cut. Benefits are being cut with the aim of driving people into work, but four in five bearing this cut aren’t expected to work.’