Benefit cap is undermining government’s response to coronavirus and should be removed during the crisis, Shelter says

Housing charity warns that capped households are not seeing increased support from higher universal credit and LHA rates introduced during the coronavirus crisis and, as a result, more households will ‘almost certainly’ be made homeless

The benefit cap is undermining the government’s response to coronavirus and should be removed, during the crisis, Shelter has said.

While welcoming the government’s immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic - through reallocating staff to process increased numbers of benefit claims, increasing universal credit by £20 a week, and increasing housing benefit so it is now aligned with the lowest 30 per cent of local rents - Shelter warns that households already affected by the benefit cap, or whose income is taken over the cap by the additional amounts, will not see the full benefit of increases if the cap remains in place.

In addition, the charity highlights that, the benefit cap is set at such low rates - 20,000 a year outside London and 23,000 in the capital - that even small families living in ‘affordable’ areas will lose out on the support they need and are entitled to during the crisis - such as single parents with two children likely to be capped in almost half of local authority areas in England and couples with two children in more than 80 per cent of areas.

Calling therefore for the cap to be temporarily lifted, Shelter says that it's clear that it is preventing the government’s support for people during the pandemic from reaching families that need it -

‘If it is kept in place, the benefit cap will almost certainly increase the number of households made homeless as a result of the crisis, with knock-on impacts on children, not to mention council finances…

We urge the government to listen to these concerns and to make sure that people can stay safe in their homes by lifting the cap for the duration of the crisis.’

For more information see The benefit cap is undermining the government’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19) from shelter.org.uk