Benefit Cap Plunging Private Renters Into Poverty

When the overall household benefit cap was introduced in 2013, it limited the total amount of benefits that a household working less than 16 hours per week could claim at £26,000 a year. It’s now at £20,000 a year outside of London, or £23,000 in the capital. An analysis on the impact of the lower cap on private renting families paints a pretty bleak picture: in more than half of England the cap means that, after paying rent, a family with two children living in a small two-bed home would have less than £8 per person per day to cover all their essentials like food and bills. This would leave them at least £100 a week under the UK poverty line. Read more on the New Statesman website.