Oral Answers to Questions

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

11. What estimate he has made of the number of households to which the benefit cap no longer applies.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

19. What estimate he has made of the number of households to which the benefit cap no longer applies.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

The benefit cap is having a long-term and positive effect on those who are trying to find work, and on people’s lives generally. More than 60,000 households have been capped since April 2013, and as of May 2015, more than 40,000 households were no longer subject to the benefit cap. Of those, 16,300 households have moved into work.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Yes. The benefit cap is introducing fairness, and the claimant count in my hon. Friend’s constituency is down by 54% since 2010, and the youth claimant count by 64%. We want even more people to benefit from the financial and wider rewards of employment, and that is why we are reforming welfare and getting on with the job.

[Heather Wheeler]

Since the introduction of the benefit cap, some three quarters of households affected by it in South Derbyshire have taken steps so that they are no longer affected, and that is testimony to those who work tirelessly to help families improve their lot. Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming that, and assure me that efforts will continue to help people turn their lives around, and away from dependency and into work?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I absolutely agree, and as I have said, the benefit cap is working. We are changing the levels at which that cap is set to improve it and to make it work further around the country. In my hon. Friend’s area, the east midlands, the number of workless households has fallen by 68,000 under this Government—households that are now benefiting from that return to work.