Number of children affected by benefits cap expected to triple

There’s concern the number of children affected by government plans to cap the benefits allowance.

The Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life Chances Commission, chaired by Frank Field MP, estimates that 4,000 more children on Merseyside will be affected, when it is lowered from £26,000 to £20,000 in April.

This is triple the current number of children who are currently affected.

A break down in the areas affected by a reduced cap is expected to look like this;

· Birkenhead, from 169 to 569;

· Bootle from 168 to 568;

· Garston and Halewood from 80 to 280;

· Knowsley, from 183 to 683;

· Liverpool Riverside, from 92 to 292;

· Walton, from 178 to 678;

· Wavetree, from 104 to 404;

· West Derby, from 136 to 536;

· St Helens, from 217 to 817;

· Wallasey, from 96 to 296;

· Wirral South, from 30 to 130;

· Wirral West, from 28 to 128

The average loss incurred so far is £50 a week per household in Merseyside, although this looks set to increase once the cap is lowered and, in some cases, it could result in families losing up to a third of their income.

Jen Doherty works for a community group called ‘Neo’ which helps families in Birkenhead. She told us families are already stretched;

‘‘To cut people again and with budgets so small, we’re worried it will push people towards pay day loans and things like that. We’ve seen families split because of the pressure of money and families who have had to come to us for hot meals.’’

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