New benefits cap will ‘damage life chances of over 3,000 Hackney children’

Fears: Alison Garnham heads up the Child Poverty Action Group. Photograph: CPAG

Over 3,000 children in the borough will be hit by the government’s new benefits cap, anti-poverty campaigners have warned.

The current cap is £26,000 per year for London residents, but this is to be cut to £23,000 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in November.

The cap applies to the combination of a number of welfare payments, including child benefit, housing benefit and universal credit, among others. Exemptions include working tax credit and disability living allowance.

A government risk assessment published last month (August) estimates that the lower cap will hit at least 1,200 families in Hackney.

Campaign group Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K) says the figure means around 3,600 children in the borough will be affected.

According to the charity, it is a common misconception that the lower cap will only hit large families, and expensive rents in the capital mean households with just two children could easily see their benefits limited.

A spokesman for Z2K said: “These figures show that Hackney is likely to be among the hardest hit areas by the lower cap, not just in London but the whole country.

“For these 1,200 families the place where they have made their home will no longer be affordable and many may be forced out of London altogether.

“We hope that mayoral candidates of all parties will commit to doing their utmost to support these Hackney residents.

“Perhaps the most shocking revelation is that almost a quarter of a million children live in households about to be capped.

“Why should these children have to face the trauma of seeing their parents struggle to cope as the money that is used to clothe, feed and house them is arbitrarily cut?

“The DWP like to make out that the benefit cap is all about encouraging people into work but the reality is that the majority of those affected are simply unable to work, either because they are sick and disabled or have to look after young children.

“The sad truth is that the benefit cap doesn’t even save the government that much money. Is the untold misery it will cause worth it?”

The government says the policy will strengthen work incentives and achieve fairness for taxpayers. But campaigners labelled the move “indefensible” and say it will force residents out of Hackney.

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), said: “The benefit cap is an indefensible and unfair policy which hurts children. Our benefit system has been based on the idea of financial support meeting assessed need.

“The benefit cap breaks this link by saying that the neediest families won’t get all the support to which they would otherwise be eligible. Very simply, what the benefit cap does is take money needed for basic needs away from mostly single parent families, many of whom have children aged under five.

“The majority of these kids have parents who, because they have a very young family, are not required to work, but often want a job – so the problem isn’t lack of motivation, but structural barriers like lack of affordable childcare and the difficulty of combining work with quality parenting, especially for single parents.

“A lower cap that cuts family budgets won’t help parents who want to work, rather it will damage the life chances of thousands of children in Hackney.

“This is a problem made by the Government, but we would welcome local authorities like Hackney warning families well in advance if they are at risk of being hit by the lower cap.

“They could also make sure that the policies in place to help them, such as discretionary housing payments, are easily accessible and that families are made aware of any crisis schemes they could go to for support.”

A spokesperson for Hackney Council said: “The imposition of the lower benefit cap has the potential to cut the income of more than 1,500 of Hackney’s poorest residents. The council will be contacting each affected household with a view to offering advice on how they may mitigate the cap.

“The most effective way to avoid it is to move into employment and the council, through its Ways into Work team and in partnership with the local Job Centre Plus, will try to facilitate this.

“The council does have a Discretionary Housing Payment Scheme in place to assist the most vulnerable households who cannot meet their rent. However, the funding pot is extremely limited and demand, which is not just driven by the benefit cap but by the whole welfare reform agenda, is very high.

“Consequently, there can be no guarantee of an award. Each application must be assessed on its own merits.

“The benefit cap has a particularly marked effect in Hackney due to the high rents, which lead to large housing benefit claims. The council has been actively campaigning to inflation-cap private rents to try to tackle this.

“Lack of housing across London has played a significant role in driving up rents in Hackney. The council is one of the biggest housebuilders in the country, including many at genuinely affordable prices, however, there is simply not enough of it in the capital.”

Update, 12.15pm Friday 2 September 2016:

The article was amended to include a comment from Hackney Council.