The Tories: Making Children Pay.
None of the ideas here are original; Vox Political has been pointing them out since before the benefit cap was introduced.
HOWEVER, that does not stop what’s happening from being wrong. It was wrong back then; it’s wrong now. Read and remember.
I’m a bit confused as to why this is being presented as a new policy when it was part of the original Welfare Reform Act and received plenty of coverage and analysis at the time, not least on Mike’s blog and also on Joe Halewood’s site ‘Speye’ where he showed that the £26,000 was not the ‘average’ income. Perhaps, as I point out on ‘Emsy’s’ blog, the focus on WCA and ESA has detracted from the benefit cap which has already seen single parent families in central London made homeless. The limit only really affects the housing benefit part of a claimant’s entitlement and it is those families in high priced rented accommodation who are hit worst by this and those with larger families. It has had little impact outside of London as a result but the consequences for those it is affecting are dire indeed.
The statistics on the impact of the benefit cap (published this month) can be found here and, predictably enough, show that the majority affected are single parents, or those with large families, mostly living in and around London. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286771/benefit-cap-january-2014.pdf
The main danger of the household benefit cap is that it could, if benefit levels are frozen or remain significantly below inflation, begin to affect greater numbers in the future resulting in all families with children potentially being affected.
What about the fact that it is clearly intended to empty London of all these annoying poor people, in order to make the way clear for the city to be turned into a paradise for the rich?
Absolutely. Though who will be left to work in the service economy that keeps the rich happy is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they’ll start cleaning up their own mess after themselves?!