Tories promise huge benefits change that would save UK £1bn a year | Politics | News
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch plans to tighten the household benefit cap to deliver welfare savings of at least £1bn a year. Today, benefits are capped at £1,835 per month for couples or single parents living with their children outside Greater London. However, there are a wide range of situations where the cap does not apply; for example, if you, your partner or a child under 18 living with you receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or a range of other benefits.
The Conservatives plan to “completely overhaul” exemptions so that “benefits such as PIP will no longer have an automatic free pass through the cap”. The party says today the cap affects only 111,000 households, with 2.3 million households claiming benefits above that level. Ms Badenoch’s Conservatives insist that “you cannot earn more from benefits than from work”.
According to their plan, families will be exempt from the cap only if “every adult in the household who can work is working.” When a couple is both able to work, they will each be required to work “at least 16 hours per week.” The Conservative Party will also change the existing rule; This means that if one member of a household receives an “exempt benefit” such as PIP or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), “the whole household’s benefits will not be capped”.
The party claims: “This has turned these benefits into a golden ticket in households where adults can work more but do not. We will change this so that if a member of a household receives one of these exemption benefits, the cap is no longer automatically removed. This means that if adults in the household who can work cannot work, we will still cap their overall benefit – only exemption benefits are given as a specific top-up. The only way to avoid the cap would be for all adults who can work to be working.”
Ms Badenoch said: “Welfare should always be there for those who need it most, but it should never prevent work or reward dependency. “Conservatives believe in fairness, and that means those on welfare should make the same choices about their families as those who don’t.
“That’s why we will reform the Household Benefit Ceiling and prevent those who abuse the system from receiving almost unlimited benefit payments.”
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride added: “Loopholes and exemptions mean millions are moving over the line. This is wrong and unfair.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: “If you can work, you should. No one should be asking for taxpayer-funded benefits until they have done their best to support themselves.”
A source at the Labour-run Department for Work and Pensions said: “The Conservatives created the universal credit system – which resulted in many people disgracefully signing up for work and being written off without support. We are fixing the system and investing £2.5bn in the Youth Guarantee to encourage young people into work, training and apprenticeships, rebalancing incentives across the system and introducing the right to try work without triggering reconsideration.”
