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Single parents make up more than half of households hit by benefit cap
Single parents make up 63% of the 88,000 households that have been hit by the lower benefit cap, figures released today by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have revealed.
From November last year, the benefit cap on households was reduced from £26,000 to £20,000, and £23,000 in London.
On 22 June, the High Court ruled the benefit cap unlawfully discriminated against single parents with children under the age of two because their childcare duties meant they would not be able to work the required 16 hours a week to be exempt from the cap.
Analysis drawn up by the DWP for the judicial review has now been published.
It shows that 55,200 lone-parent households were estimated to be affected by the lower benefit cap in 2016/17 – of which 78% were lone parents with a youngest child under the age of five.
By comparison, the cap hit around 19,000 households with two parents.
The analysis said: “There were far fewer households without children estimated to be affected. Only 13,700 single-person households and 100 couples without children were estimated to be in scope for the cap in 2016/17.”
The government is appealing the High Court ruling, and the cap will continue to be applied until a final judgement is reached.
