Campaigners are one step closer to a government u-turn on welfare reform today after peers and bishops revealed they will press for changes to the proposed cap on benefits.
It's estimated the £500-a-week limit on benefits, due to be debated in the House of Lords today, will affect 50,000 households, all losing around £93 per week.
Charities have warned the moves could plunge children and families into poverty and pile pressure on already-struggling social services departments.
Enver Solomon, director of policy at The Children's Society, told the Observer: "Child benefit which is paid to parents but provided specifically for children must be excluded from the cap. Peers must now make a stand to protect the plight of the country's disadvantaged children."
This useful analysis by The Children's Society found the cap - designed to incentivise people into work and promote fairness between those working and those claiming benefits - will disproportionately affect children who could pay the ultimate price for their parents' choices.
More than 80,000 children could end up homeless, the charity found, while a government memo leaked to the Observer yesterday suggested 100,000 children would be pushed below the poverty line as a result of the cap.
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has, however, rejected all claims that the cap could push children and families into poverty. But is he right? Click here for an interesting analysis.
Picture credit: Images_of_Money
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