Charities warn government not to break link between inflation and benefit payments
Janaki Mahadevan
Friday, November 18, 2011
The government has been accused of failing on its own family-friendly test after reports that Chancellor George Osborne is expected to cap the annual benefit increase next April at 4.5 per cent.
Annual benefit increase have been linked to the previous September’s inflation rate for the past two decades.
However, with inflation raising to 5.2 per cent this September, it has been reported in The Times newspaper that ministers are planning to use a lower rate of 4.5 per cent, based on average inflation in the six months running up to September.
Charities have condemned the plans, saying it will be a further blow to families on low incomes.
Helen Dent, chief executive of charity Family Action, said: "The most vulnerable are already being hammered by benefit cuts, slashed services and food and fuel inflation.
"A decision to break the link between inflation and welfare payments will put further pressure on families already at breaking point. We know that many of the families we work with are having to choose between a warm home and food on the table, and this will break some of them.
"The government is failing a generation of young people and it looks like its family-friendly test has gone out the window."
Home-Start UK, which offers support and advice to families, revealed earlier this month that out of more than 1,200 families with children aged under five, four out of 10 had felt at breaking point.
Kay Bews, chief executive of Home-Start UK, said: "A high proportion of the 33,000 families Home-Start supports are already coping with waves of serious difficulties like disability, bereavement and isolation. Our experience gained from supporting young families affected by the recession and in helping them access their benefits entitlement shows that parents are already truly struggling to make ends meet.
"Many parents feel that they are very likely to be tipped over the edge if anything else hits them. If the proposals reported today do come into being in the Chancellor’s autumn statement they are likely to have a direct effect on the welfare of their children now, and as they grow up."
The Treasury refused to comment on the reports.