Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the benefit cap on the health and well-being of children.

We do not hold any data on the effect of the benefit cap on the health and well-being of children.

The Government believes that encouraging households to move into work through the benefit cap will help to increase the household’s income and help to improve their wellbeing:

Research shows that for adults without work, re-employment leads to improvement in health and wellbeing, whereas further unemployment leads to deterioration. Research also shows that it is not in the best interests of children to live in workless households. For example, children in households where neither parent is in work are much more likely to have challenging behaviour at age 5 than children in households where both parents are in paid employment.