SINGLE parents have won a significant victory against the Tory Government’s benefit cap, with the High Court saying the policy caused “real misery” for “no good purpose” and unlawfully discriminated against families with children under the age of two.
The government said they would appeal the court’s decision, and insisted the benefits cap would remain.
Four lone parent families, including two who had been made homeless through domestic violence, had called for a judicial review of the policy which limits the total amount households can receive in benefits to £20,000 a year, or £23,000 in Greater London.
Ministers say capping benefits provides the unemployed with “a clear incentive to move into a job” with those who find at least 16 hours of work per week allowed to receive their full level of benefit, including housing benefit and child benefit.
But as children under two do not qualify for free childcare, it can be challenging for a single parent to work those 16 hours.
Statistics released earlier this year show that of the 66,000 families in the UK who have had their benefits capped 48,000 (over 70 per cent) are families headed by a lone adult.
More than half of claimants affected by the cap receive Income Support, which is mostly paid to single parents, and fully 91 per cent are in receipt of child tax credit.
Justice Collins said: “Whether or not the defendant accepts my judgment, the evidence shows that the cap is capable of real damage to individuals such as the claimants.
“They are not workshy but find it, because of the care difficulties, impossible to comply with the work requirement.
“Most lone parents with children under two are not the sort of households the cap was intended to cover and, since they will depend on Discretionary Housing Payments, they will remain benefit households. Real misery is being caused to no good purpose.”
Solicitor Rebekah Carrier, who represented some families, said: “The benefit cap has had a catastrophic impact upon vulnerable lone parent families and children across the country. Single mothers like my clients have been forced into homelessness and reliance on food banks as a result of the benefit cap.
She added: “Thousands of children have been forced into poverty, which has severe long-term effects on the health and well-being.”
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the government was “disappointed” with the decision and intended to appeal.
“Work is the best way to raise living standards, and many parents with young children are employed,” he said.
“The benefit cap incentivises work, even if it’s part-time, as anyone eligible for working tax credits or the equivalent under Universal Credit, is exempt. Even with the cap, lone parents can still receive benefits up to the equivalent salary of £25,000, or £29,000 in London and we have made Discretionary Housing Payments available to people who need extra help.”
Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “We have the ridiculous situation where one part of the DWP has been telling lone parents with very young children that it understands they should not be expected to work, and another part of the DWP is punishing them severely for exactly the same thing.”
SNP MSP Sandra White said the judgement should be a “wake up call for the Tories”.
“This is an absolutely damning result that highlights the real human impact of the Tories’ austerity agenda.Theresa May and her government should be ashamed. Their obsession with making low-income families bear the burden of austerity is having a real human cost – and for no good reason.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the decisions was a “further demonstration of the failure of the Conservative’s austerity agenda.”
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