If you’re disabled and in work, about to have a child or recently widowed there could be benefit cuts coming your way this week.
And if you’re on jobseekers’ allowance or receiving child benefits that’s going to be frozen this week, in spite of inflation and the rising cost of living.
The cuts that come in this week were set last year by then Chancellor George Osborne – and they’ve been slammed by campaign groups as an attack on hard-up families and low paid workers.
This list, compiled by The Mirror (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/5-tory-benefit-cuts-taking-10144250) , focuses specifically on benefit cuts and does not include ‘giveaways’ like free child care or the income tax threshold rising from £11,100 to £11,500.
But even if you count the freebies – which add up to more than the cuts – experts say it’s still the poorest who’ll lose out.
According to the Resolution Foundation think tank, 80% of tax giveaways in the next year will go to the better-off half of households.
The poorest third, meanwhile, will shoulder 67% of the benefit cuts.
A single parent with a baby on £17,000 will gain £80 from tax cuts but lose £610 from benefit cuts, the Resolution Foundation says.
Meanwhile a two-child, two-parent family on £100,000 a year will be £480 better off overall, the Resolution Foundation warns.
So here are the cuts:
1) The Tax Credits two-child limit
Date: 6 April 2017
Cut: £1.2billion a year by 2020
Number of victims: 515,000 families by 2020
What is it?
Child Tax Credit, worth up to £2,780 per child per year, will now only be paid for the first two children in any family.
Why is it controversial?
It will deny huge sums to large families in future, and women who had a third child through rape will have to prove their ordeal to get a special exception.
Who’s affected?
Lower-income families on Child Tax Credit with more than two children where:
The third (or later) child is born after 6 April 2017, or
The family stops claiming CTC for 6 months or more, then returns to it
Who isn’t affected?
Children already alive, IF their parents keep claiming without a long break (above)
Children born through rape, but mum must prove it
Twins, triplets etc born to families who had one child
Children looked after by a ‘friend or family carer’
Children who have been adopted (except by step-parents)
Disabled children, who are counted separately
2) The end of the ‘family element’
Date: 6 April 2017
Cut: £540million a year by 2020
Number of victims: 970,000 families by 2020
What is it?
An extra payment in Child Tax Credit called the “family element”, worth £545 a year, is being shut down.
Why is it controversial?
It will deprive a million new claimants of a big payment, yet keep handing it to people who are already on the system.
Who’s affected?
Lower-income families who claim Child Tax Credit entirely for children born after 6 April 2017.
Who isn’t affected?
Families who claim Child Tax Credit for any child born before 6 April 2017.
3) £30-a-week disability benefit cuts
Date: 3 April 2017
Cut: £350million a year by 2020
Number of victims: 500,000 in the long term
What is it?
People claiming disability benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will get £29.05 less every week if they’re deemed fit for ‘work-related activity’ (WRAG). They will get £73.10, the same as jobseekers’ allowance, instead of £102.15.
Why is it controversial?
The plan has outraged charities, Labour and the House of Lords, who all say ESA claimants need more support than jobseekers. Mind says the £1,500-a-year cut “will make their lives even more difficult and will do nothing to help them return to work”.
Who’s affected?
People who start claiming ESA WRAG after 3 April 2017
People who stop claiming ESA for 12 weeks or more, then return to it
Who isn’t affected?
Current claimants, IF they keep claiming without a long break (above)
ESA claimants in the more serious ‘support group’
People already on ESA who are moved from the ‘support’ group to the WRAG group
4) Young people blocked from housing benefit
Date: 1 April 2017
Cut: £105million total by 2020
Number of victims: 11,000 in the long term
What is it?
Jobseekers aged 18 to 21 will no longer be able to get Housing Benefit, worth varying amounts and always paid directly to the landlord. It is supposedly to stop them going into a “life on benefits”.
Why is it controversial?
Centrepoint warns it could “force thousands of young people onto the streets” and cost more than it saves. Jeremy Corbyn adds: “This latest nasty policy will make the scandal of rising homelessness worse.”
Who’s affected?
People aged 18 to 21 on jobseekers’ allowance who are eligible for Housing Benefit.
Who isn’t affected?
Current claimants (according to a DWP press release)
Youngsters earning at least £89.60 a week or apprentices
Youngsters who have their own children to care for
Youngsters in temporary accommodation for the homeless
Youngsters subject to / threatened with domestic violence
Orphans and care leavers
Youngsters on some disability benefits (the ‘daily living’ part of PIP)
Youngsters whose parents live abroad
Youngsters where it’s ‘inappropriate’ to return to their parents’ home (but charities warn this will be hard to prove)
5) Changes for people who’ve been widowed
Date: 6 April 2017
Cut: £100million a year in the long term
Number of victims: Possibly in the tens of thousands, but not known
What is it?
Three different benefits are being replaced with one new Bereavement Support Payment. It’s worth £3,500, plus £350 a month for 18 months, for claimants with dependent children (£2,500 plus £100 a month for other claimants).
Why is it controversial?
There are winners and losers – 48% will be worse off (with 52% better off) - and overall the Treasury will spend £100m less a year. Charities have warned the payments period is too short and widowed people are often in need of cash for longer. The government insists the changes are a positive thing.
Who’s affected?
Anyone who can claim bereavement benefits. This means:
People whose spouse/civil partner dies after 6 April 2017, but -
Surviving partner must be under the state pension age, AND
The deceased must have paid ‘sufficient’ National Insurance
The DWP says losers include parents who would have received Widowed Parent’s Allowance for longer, and older people who would have received Bereavement Allowance who still work.
Those gaining include people under 45 without dependent children.
Who isn’t affected?
People already receiving bereavement benefits or whose spouse/civil partner died before 6 April 2017.
And don’t forget... the BIG FREEZE
Date: Ongoing
Cut: £3.5BILLION a year by 2020
Number of victims: Several million
What is it?
Nearly all working-age benefits are frozen at their 2015-16 rates for four years.
Why is it controversial?
It means in reality, benefits are being slashed because the pound in your pocket can buy less with each passing year. A government impact assessment obtained by the Lib Dems says the average claimant will be £6 a week worse off.
