As the coalition government wrestles with an £83bn round of spending cuts to get the UK economy back on track, Channel 4 News looks at cuts to benefits coming into force this year.
A raft of cuts aimed at benefits across all sections of UK society come into force in the course of 2013.
Some Tories claim benefits form “24.2 per cent of the UK’s total income”, and as recently as this week criticised Labour’s introduction of tax credits, with Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith saying they had resulted in “a sorry story of dependency, wasted taxpayers’ money and fraud”.
CB withdrawn where someone in a household has an income of more than £50,000
CB withdrawn at 1 per cent for every £100 earned over £50k
APRIL 2013
COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT
CTB is to be replaced by “localised support” through local councils
the change aims to reduce the annual CTB bill by 10 per cent
pensioners are protected against reduction in support
DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE
DLA is to be replaced by the personal independence payment (PIP)
PIP will involve introduction of “objective assessments” to decide eligibility
the government hopes for a 20 per cent reduction in expenditure by 2017
HOUSING BENEFIT
People in social sector housing larger than they need must move or make up the difference in rent because housing benefit will be reduced – by 14 per cent if they under-occupy by one bedroom – by 25 per cent if they under-occupy by two or more bedrooms
Those of pension credit age will not be affected by the changes
Local housing allowance (LHA) rates are to be increased in line with the consumer price index, not local market rents
SOCIAL FUND
Crisis loans, given when waiting for benefit claims to be processed, are to be replaced by “payment on account”
Other crisis loans/community care grants abolished
TAX CREDITS
a rise in income of £5,000 or more (previously £10,000 or more) will be taken into account when finalising a person’s tax credit.
BENEFIT CAP
will limit benefits to the average net earned income of working households, estimated to be – – £350 per week for a single adult with no children – £500 per week for a couple or lone parent, regardless of the number of children they have
OCTOBER 2013
UNIVERSAL CREDIT
Current system of working-age benefits and tax credits replaced by the universal credit. Moving over to UC should be completed by October 2017