MORE than 11,000 children in some of Scotland’s poorest families are being affected by the UK Government’s benefit cap, according to new figures, with an average household losing £2,000 a year.
The analysis, by the Scottish Greens shows that lowering the cap –which restricts how much individual families can claim – has resulted in the number of children affected increasing by 400 per cent since the change in November last year.
The cap originally affected mainly large families in London and the south east of England, where rents are higher. But the Greens’ report, based on Department for Work and Pensions data, shows hundreds of households affected where there are two children or fewer and says more than 80 per cent of the households hit by cuts of an average £57.01 per week are lone parent families, the vast majority headed by a woman.
Alison Johnstone MSP, who published the research, said that 3,705 Scottish families were affected, a rise of more 3,000 in just seven months since the cap was lowered.
“Seven years into the Tories’ cruel agenda of cuts, we now see the terrible impact on children in our communities,” she said. “By reducing the social security support available, while ignoring rising housing costs, the UK Government has pushed an additional 11,000 children into potential poverty and homelessness.
“Our analysis shows that to mitigate this unfair UK policy , the Scottish Government could take the same approach as it rightly did with the hated Bedroom Tax, and use its powers over Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) to end the misery caused by the Benefit Cap. This would cost between one and two million pounds a year, but it would make a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable families across Scotland.”
The report says 90 per cent of the families affected by the cap contain at least one child. Meanwhile East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire are worst affected, with the number of households hit rising more than 900 per cent since November.
The Child Poverty Action Group Scotland has set up an “early warning system” to monitor the impact of welfare changes. CPAG Scotland director John Dickie said cases picked up in Scotland included a lone parent with five children who faced eviction after her housing benefit was reduced to 50p a week in November last year.
She has now been awarded a discretionary housing payment (DHP) but continues to have arrears as well as an eating disorder, and is suffering from depression. “The family has cut back but are struggling to survive,” Mr Dickie said. Another client had built up rent arrears when she had to repay an overpayment after a relationship breakdown, he said. With the benefit cap, she is unable to meet repayments and again faces eviction.
Mr Dickie said: “The benefit cap is a cruel policy that’s been mis-sold to the public. UK Ministers say the benefit cap is about getting the unemployed into work, but their own figures show only 17 per cent of households hit by it are in that position. The vast majority of households made poorer by the benefit cap are ones which the benefits system accepts cannot work because they are lone parents, often with very young children, or because of illness or disability.”
He said Scottish Government efforts to put resources in to mitigate social security cuts were welcome but not all areas of the country were being protected “Our evidence suggest that there is huge variation across Scotland. Local and national government in Scotland need to work together to ensure everything possible is done to mitigate the impact this cruel UK social security cut is having on families,” Mr Dickie said.
The Scottish Government’s analysis suggests welfare cuts will cost Scotland £3.9bn by 2021, and says it has already put £350m into offsetting Westminster savings. However social security minister Jeane Freeman warned in June that it was not possible to prevent the impact of all cuts. “It is simply not possible to for us to mitigate all of the UK Government’s welfare cuts without major reductions in our expenditure in other vital public services,” she said.
The Department for Work and Pensions claims the benefits cap incentivises work while DHPs are available for those who need extra help.
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