Benefits cap will hit children the hardest

This week saw the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Lords. To coincide with the reading, The Children's Society released a new analysis showing the Government's proposed cap on benefits will cut support for more than 200,000 children.

While the Department of Work and Pensions' proposed scheme aims to promote fairness and get adults back into the mainstream of society, we know that children will be the biggest losers if this plan becomes law. They are nine times more likely to be affected by it than adults.

The plan is for out-of-work households to have their benefits capped at £500 per week. Now that may sound like a lot to some people, but it really isn't. For a couple with four children and £270 of housing costs, the cap could leave them with less than £5.50 per person per day to live on. This needs to cover food, clothing, travel and any school or social activities.

The Government needs to urgently re-think the benefit cap. It will lead to thousands more children being pushed further into poverty, despite the Government being legally bound to end child poverty by 2020.

It's simply unacceptable. It would be a giant step backwards that will harm society's poorest children.