People on state benefits are facing £570 income cuts as inflation soars in the UK's cost of living crisis.
Latest Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures released today show two million families were on Universal Credit in November.
The benefit is set to rise by just 3.1% this April when inflation is expected to peak at 7.25%. That means most of these households face a real-terms cut of around £570 per year in social security support.
Across those households, there are 3.6million children. Half have a child aged four or younger and around 40% of claimants are in work.
This spring, food costs alone are set to be £26 a month higher than last year for families with children in poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).
And with energy bills due to increase by 54% in April, the average household will pay at least £35 per month more even after any support schemes are factored in.
Meanwhile, single parent families in poverty will spend around £1 in every £4 of their disposable income on energy from April. Couple-families in poverty will spend £1 in every £7.
For the 180,000 families subject to the benefit cap, the loss will be even greater.
The benefit cap limits the amount of benefit a household can receive.
Most people affected by the cap are families with children and of these, 63% are headed by a single parent, more than half of whom have at least one child aged under five.
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It is particularly difficult for single parents with very young children to escape the cap by working or working longer hours, the CPAG report said.
The level of the benefit cap hasn’t been revised since 2016 so the shortfall in the social security support that capped families receive, compared to what they need, has grown accordingly.
The level of the cap is set at £23,000 per year for couples and single parents in Greater London and £20,000 for couples and single parents outside the capital.
The Government’s new measures to help households with energy costs are a £200 repayable discount on energy bills for all households, a £150 council tax rebate in April and £150million for local authorities to use as discretionary support for the lowest income households.
The energy bill discount will then have to be repaid at a rate of £40 a year for the next five years.
The council tax support will kick in automatically from spring but only applies if your property falls under bands A to D.
The CPAG urgently called for an increase in social security payments to match the expected inflation rate this year.
The charity said the benefit cap should also be removed to prevent a further rise on the 4.3million children already living below the poverty line in the UK.
CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “The families behind today’s figures have no shelter from the storm. They are facing even higher prices and a real terms cut in social security support.
“Unless the Government acts, the children in those families will feel the effect, as parents are forced to cut back even more on food, heating and basic essentials.
“Increasing benefits in line with the expected inflation rate this Spring is the minimum protection needed and would send a signal to desperately worried families that they have not been forgotten.”
