Capping of benefits

Summary

In April 2013, the government introduced a limit on the total amount of benefit that most people aged 16 to 64 can receive. This is called the benefit cap. This means that in general, households, in which at least one person is in receipt of a working age benefit, no longer receive more in welfare payments than the average weekly wage for working households.

Lower benefit cap levels came into effect from 7 November 2016. Different capping levels are now applied for those people who live inside Greater London and those persons who live outside Greater London. These replaced the single cap level that existed previously.

At the time of writing (May 2017), for persons who live outside of Greater London, the benefit cap levels are:

• £384.62 per week (£20,000 a year) for couples, whose children live with them, or do not live with them
• £384.62 per week (£20,000 a year) for a single person with children who live with that person
• £257.69 per week (£13,400 a year) for a single person who does not have children, or who has children but who not live with that person.

The new benefit cap levels were applied to all households that were already capped on 7 November and rolled-out to newly affected households from 7 November 2016 to 20 January 2017. The lower cap levels have increased the number of households in scope for the benefit cap. This has resulted in a sharp rise in the number households with capped benefits over the last quarter.

For most capped households the benefit cap is administered through Housing Benefit (HB), with a household’s HB entitlement being reduced so that the total amount of benefit received is no longer higher than the cap level. 

Key findings for households with benefits capped in Great Britain

Households may flow on and off the benefit cap on more than one occasion as circumstances change. The following bullet points refer to figures for Great Britain as a whole for February 2017.

• 66,135 households had their Housing Benefit capped at February 2017. This is an increase of 46,000 households on the previous quarter (November 2016).
• 134,000 households have had their benefits capped between 15 April 2013, when the benefit cap was introduced, and February 2017
• 68,000 households are no longer capped at February 2017
• 51.0% of capped households were capped by £50 or more a week.
• 83.0% (55,000) of capped households included between 1 and 4 children and 10% (6,800) had 5 or more children. 93.0% (61,800) of capped households therefore included children.
• 72.0% (48,000) of capped households constituted a single parent with child dependents.
• 79.0% (38,000) of single-parent capped households have at least one child aged under 5 years, including 15.0% (7,200) with a child aged under 1 year at February 2017.

Lancashire-14 households with capped benefits

As at February 2017, 1,124 households in the Lancashire-14 area, and 726 households in the Lancashire-12 area had their benefits capped.

Blackpool (250) had the highest number of households with capped benefits in the Lancashire-14 area in February 2017, followed by Blackburn with Darwen (148), Preston (133), Lancaster (85), Hyndburn (82) and Burnley (79 households).

In contrast, Fylde (26) and Ribble Valley (9) had the lowest number of households with capped benefits in the Lancashre-14 area.

Table 1: Households with capped benefits, quarterly data (points in time) - February 2016 to February 2017

Area	Households with capped benefits – February 2016	Households with capped benefits – May 2016	Households with capped benefits – August 2016	Households with capped benefits - November 2016	Households with capped benefits – February 2017
Burnley	18	20	18	20	79
Chorley	8	8	7	12	52
Fylde	..	..	..	..	26
Hyndburn	20	24	22	15	82
Lancaster	16	15	19	13	85
Pendle	15	10	13	12	57
Preston	28	31	39	31	133
Ribble Valley	..	..	..	..	9
Rossendale	7	6	6	7	43
South Ribble	8	12	9	10	45
West Lancashire	12	14	17	16	45
Wyre	18	17	15	10	70
Lancashire-12	150	157	165	146	726
Blackburn with Darwen	48	50	48	47	148
Blackpool	66	61	57	63	250
Lancashire-14	264	268	270	256	1,124
North West	1,437	1,456	1,439	1,323	5,883
Great Britain	20,189	20,124	20,041	20,096	66,135

Note: [1] '..' Numbers have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data and therefore individual cells may not sum to totals.

Source: Department for Work and Pensions, benefit cap statistics

Quarterly change in the number of households with capped benefits

Over the last quarter, the number of households with capped benefits increased sharply in Great Britain, rising by 46,039 (229.1%), more than tripling to 66,135 households in February 2017. This is owing to the implementation of the lower benefit cap levels from 7 November 2016.

In the Lancashire-14 area, the number of households with capped benefits more than quadrupled over the previous quarter, rising by 868 households (339.1%) to 1,124 households.

In the Lancashire-12 area, the number of capped households increased almost five-fold, rising by 580 households (397.3%) over the quarter to 726 households.

Within the Lancashire-14 area, Blackpool (187), Preston (102), Blackburn with Darwen (101), Lancaster (72) and Hyndburn (67) saw the largest quarterly increases in the number of households with capped benefits.

West Lancashire (29 households, 181.3%) recorded the smallest numeric and percentage increases over the quarter in the Lancashire-14 area.

Page updated May 2017