Reduced benefit cap would make many areas out of reach for families, says CIH

The government is planning to reduce the cap from £26,000 to £23,000 so couple with three children would receive £110 a week. This is not enough to cover the average rent for a three-bedroom property anywhere in the Midlands or the south of England, and many areas in the north. For single parents with three children would also struggle to find accommodation in London and most of the south east of England.

The government announced that it would be going ahead with proposals to reduce the benefit cap in the Queen’s Speech last month, as part of the Full Employment and Welfare Benefits Bill. The policy aims to encourage people to find work but CIH has warned that lowering the cap could actually make it more difficult if people are forced to move long distances away from their current home to find a place they can afford, because they would be cut off from their support network of family and friends.

Deputy chief executive Gavin Smart said: “People affected by the current cap already face significant barriers to finding work, including a lack of job seeking skills and affordable childcare.  Our UK Housing Review briefing shows that lowering the cap would make huge swathes of the country unaffordable for larger families on benefits.  Where will these people go?  Being forced to move large distances away will make it even harder to find work, because they could be cut off from the from the support network they rely on for childcare for example.”

He added: “Ultimately, if the government really wants to tackle the housing benefit bill, it needs to commit to building more genuinely affordable homes. We have failed to build the number of homes we need for decades which means that the cost of housing is becoming unaffordable for more and more people, increasing the numbers who rely on the benefits system to make ends meet. Action to restrict entitlement to benefits is at best a stop gap measure and at worst increases poverty and misery for already poor and vulnerable people. Long-term, effective action would focus on increasing our housing supply not further restricting access to our already insufficient and inadequate supply of homes.”

CIH’s UK Housing Review briefing, which is being launched Tuesday 23 June at Housing 2015

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