Families face choice between food and heating, warn charities

Jobseeker's Allowance, income support and child tax credit are among the working-age benefits that will increase by just one per cent over the next three years, equating to a real-terms cut, given that inflation is currently running at more than two per cent.

The Children’s Society suggested the one per cent cap would mean an unemployed, lone parent with one child and no other income will only receive about £4 more each week after housing costs in 2015.

“It’s a substantial cut,” said Sam Royston, policy adviser on poverty at the Children’s Society. “This is very concerning given what could happen to prices. Anytime in that period we could see a fuel price spike again, which would make it hard to afford heating bills and food prices could go up rapidly – we just don’t know.”

Child benefit, which is currently frozen, will rise by one per cent from April 2014 for two years – representing an overall rise of two per cent over five years by 2015.

The Chancellor George Osborne meanwhile announced that carers' and disability benefits, including the disability elements of tax credits, would be increased in line with inflation.

Disabled children’s charity Contact a Family welcomed the alignment of carers' and disability benefits with inflation, but warned that families with disabled children would be hit by the one per cent cap on other benefits.

“Families with disabled children are more likely to be on lower incomes due to the difficulties of working and caring and they are also more likely to be claiming a range of benefits across the system,” said Srabani Sen, chief executive of Contact a Family.

“It costs three times more to raise a disabled child and families are facing intolerable day-to-day choices such as whether to heat their homes or put food on the table.”

Her concerns were echoed by the charity Gingerbread, which said single-parent families would also be hit hard by the changes. 

“The Chancellor’s decisions today will push thousands more into poverty,” said Fiona Weir, chief executive of Gingerbread. “Key to cutting the welfare bill is supporting more people into work and yet today the Chancellor has failed to give any extra help with childcare costs, which remain one of the biggest barriers to work for parents.”

Family Action criticised Osborne for not doing enough to help families, and warned that his decisions would store up problems for the future.

“The biggest investment we can make in reducing future spending on prisons, health and social services in the future is intervening early in the lives of family and children to address disadvantage and poverty now," said Helen Dent, chief executive of Family Action.

But Osborne insisted that the plans are “fair”, claiming they would create “a welfare system that Britain can afford”. He argued that the changes to welfare would save the government £3.7bn in 2015/16.