Osborne exemption on benefit cap

By Paul Carter with the Conservatives in Birmingham

A cap is to be introduced on the total amount of benefit a household is eligible to receive, though most disabled people will be exempt from the proposals, the Chancellor has announced.

George Osborne made the announcement, along with the heavily trailed news that child benefit would be scrapped for higher rate tax payers, during his speech to the Conservative Party conference.

Under the plans, the total amount that can be received by a household from Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Employment Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit will be limited to the average take-home pay for working households.

Carer’s Allowance and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit will also be included in the cap, estimated to be set at around £500 per week in 2013 when the changes will be implemented.

The Treasury has said that all claimants of DLA will be exempt from the cap.

“The limit will be set according to this very simple principle: Unless they have disabilities to cope with, no family should get more from living on benefits than the average family gets from going out to work,” the Chancellor said.
 
“No more open ended chequebook. A maximum limit on benefits for those out of work, set at the level that the average working family earns.
 
“Money to families who need it - but not more money than families who go out to work. That is what the British people mean by fair - and we will be the first Government in history to bring it about.”