Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect of reducing the benefit cap to £23,000 in London and £20,000 elsewhere on the (a) health and wellbeing and (b) mental health of children living in households affected by that reduction.

The new cap levels better reflect the circumstances of many hard working families in the country. Around 4 out of 10 households earn less than £20,000 and in Greater London around 4 out of 10 households earn less than £23,000.

The Government believes that encouraging households to move into work through the new benefit cap will help to increase the household’s income and help to improve their wellbeing:

Research shows that for people without work, re-employment leads to improvement in health and wellbeing, whereas further unemployment leads to deterioration. Research also shows that it is not in the best interests of children to live in workless households. For example, children in households where neither parent is in work are much more likely to have challenging behaviour at age 5 than children in households where both parents are in paid employment.