Benefit Cap

From the 1st April 2013 a limit will be put on the total amount of benefit that most people aged 16 to 64 can get. This is called a benefit cap.Under the benefit cap, the total amount of benefits that can be received by any individual or family will be limited to a maximum amount of

• £500 a week for couples (with or without children living with them)
• £500 a week for single parents whose children live with them
• £350 a week for single adults who don’t have children, or whose children don’t live with them

At first this will only affect people in 4 council areas:

• Bromley
• Croydon
• Enfield
• Haringey

All other areas will introduce the cap by the end of September 2013.

You will probably be affected by the cap if you are out of work and claiming benefits such as income support, jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance. Housing benefit and help with mortgage costs will count towards the maximum amount of benefit that can be paid.

The cap won’t apply to you if you work enough hours to be eligible for working tax credit.

To find more information about this and see if this will affect you go to www.gov.uk or www.shelter.org.uk

Croydon has brought out a number of information leaflets to help you manage your money particularly if you have been affected by these benefit changes.

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