Benefit Cap Stays Despite Lords No Vote
Published / Last Updated on 23/01/2012
Benefit Cap Stays Despite Lords No Vote.
Despite a defeat in the House of Lords yesterday, the government will carry on with plans to cap welfare payments for families. Yesterday, peers voted in favour of excluding child benefit from a proposed housing benefits cap of £26,000 a year.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith claims the cap on out-of-work benefits would save about £600m towards deficit reduction, but critics believe that imposing the same cap on all families would penalise children.
According to a spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions, they are disappointed by the decision as the public were overwhelmingly in favour of the cap. He believes the limit of £26,000 is a fair rate - which equates to someone earning £35,000 before tax.