get us and uk politics insight with our free daily email briefing straight to your inbox invalid email something went wrong, please try again later. sign up thank you for subscribing we have more newsletters show me see our privacy notice  tens of thousands of families face being made homeless and thrown into poverty because of the new benefits cap, campaigners warn.  from tomorrow the total amount of benefits a household can receive will be cut from £26,000 to £23,000 in london and to £20,000 in the rest of the country.  charities have warned the new measures will leave 112,000 families responsible for 320,000 children up to £115 a week worse off.  the reduction in the cap will also hit an estimated 42,000 single parents.  the children’s society says the harsher rules could lead to more families being made homeless and forced to move away from their children’s friends and schools.  “there are already 3.9million children living in poverty across britain and the new cap is likely to cause that total to rise. children’s health, well-being and mental health could all be put at risk,” the society says.  more than one in ten families affected by the cap are unable to work because of caring responsibilities or disability or long-term sickness.  matthew reed, chief executive of the children’s society, said: “given the prime minister’s aspiration of making britain a country that works for everyone, it is deeply disappointing that the government is pushing ahead with an ongoing agenda of cuts to financial support for children in low-income families.  making savings by cutting help for the poorest children is unnecessary and unfair.  image: getty images  “this is a blunt instrument trying to solve a complex problem.  the policy is targeted at workless adults, but the reality is that children are considerably more likely than adults to lose out and there is nothing fair about trying to balance the books on the backs of poor children.  “we fully support efforts to make work pay, but it is not right to achieve this by putting more children on the breadline.  even at this late stage we would urge ministers to exclude children’s benefits from the cap so that children and their already struggling families do not suffer even more hardship.  “at the same time the government should provide better incentives for families to move into work by reversing recent cuts to support for working families in universal credit.”  shadow work and pensions secretary debbie abrahams mp said: “despite theresa may’s warm words on the steps of no 10, when she said she wanted to help families who are ‘just managing’, she is allowing the reduction of the so-called ‘benefit cap’ to go ahead. from 7th november, more than 116,000 households will be affected including 320,000 children.  “charities are warning of an escalation of homelessness which currently includes over 100,000 children living in temporary accommodation. widows and widowers, veterans and disabled people up and down the country will lose up to £100 per week.”  rehana azam, the national secretary of the gmb union, added: “just four months ago, theresa may stood on the steps of downing street promising to fight injustice and to ensure every person regardless of their background would be given the chance to be all they want to be.  today she is unleashing a monstrous new assault on 40,000 single mothers, which risks shattering the life chances of children up and down our country.”  image: reuters  “this has echoes of the staggering hypocrisy and chilling callousness that saw the victimisation of single mothers in the bad old days of the early 1990s. theresa may once said she would change the ‘nasty party’ but the mask has slipped again.”  a department for work and pensions pointed to statistics showing that more than 23,000 households who previously had their benefits capped had since found work.  work and pensions secretary damian green said: “each statistic represents a person who has moved into employment and can now enjoy the security and dignity that works brings.  “by making sure that those people who are out of work are faced with the same choices as those who are in work, the benefit cap has been a real success.  “by lowering the cap today, we are ensuring the values of this government continue to chime with those of ordinary working people and delivering on our commitment to make sure work pays more than welfare”.  the institute for fiscal studies ifs economic think tank said the new benefit cap would “almost exclusively affects families with large numbers of children or very high rents or both.”  the ifs also said more than half of those affected would have “at least four children.”  “for those families who are affected, the impact can be large. households who are already capped will lose a further £3,000 per year in london or £6,000 per year elsewhere,” the ifs said.  lib dem leader tim farron said: “theresa may said one thing on downing street and is now robbing some of the poorest families of £6,000. she just mislead the british public and is now clobbering those who can afford it least. it’s makes her party look like hypocrites.  “how can the conservatives do this and call themselves the workers party? it’s disgraceful.”
benefit cap will leave tens of thousands more children in poverty in 'monstrous new assault' on families