Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding in the report by Policy in Practice, entitled The interaction of covid-19 measures and the benefit cap on low-income Londoners, that 22,000 existing benefit claimants in London became capped following the increases in benefits awards introduced by the Government in April 2020 as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

We have noted the findings in this report.

The benefit cap provides fairness for hard-working taxpaying households, whilst providing a reasonable safety net of support for the most vulnerable claimants who are entitled to disability benefits and carer benefits. The London cap of £23,000 is equivalent to gross family earnings of around £28,000.