Briefing: Benefit Cap adjournment debate

The High Court recently ruled that the revised benefit cap was unlawful, in so far as it applied to lone parents with children under the age of two. Shelter intervened in the case, presenting evidence about how families would struggle to avoid the cap by moving, and how in some areas the benefit cap means that families do not even have enough money to cover the rent of even the cheapest private rented home, let alone enough for food and essentials.

Shelter welcomed the recent ruling and continues to recommend that the Government review the benefit cap policy and exempt families that will struggle to move or find work, such as homeless families and single parents with very young children.