Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been made of the impact that the lowering of the benefit cap will have on vulnerable children.

The Government carefully considered the impact of the reduced benefit cap on children as part of the policy making process.

The government believes that work is the best route out of poverty and it is not in the best interests of children to live in workless households. The benefit cap is expected to encourage more parents to work which is in the best interests of children.

A wide range of help and support has been put in place to assist parents, including budgeting and employment support and support with child care. DHPs are also available to assist those affected by the measure. The Government has allocated a total of £870m for DHP payments for five years from 2016/17.

Exemptions apply where someone in the household is entitled to a disability benefit such as Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance. We have introduced new exemptions for households where someone is entitled to Carer’s Allowance, the carer’s element of Universal Credit, or Guardian’s Allowance.

Parents affected by the benefit cap will still be entitled to £23,000 p.a. in Greater London and £20,000 p.a. outside Greater London which is more than the earnings of many working households.

The Government published an updated Impact Assessment on 25 August, 2016 which is available on the Gov.Uk website. An Equality Analysis was published on the legislation.gov.uk website on the same page as Statutory Instrument Number 2016/909.