Labour would look to ending benefit cap – Debbie Abrahams

The benefit cap is something that Labour would look to ending, Debbie Abrahams has said.

The idea, which has not yet been costed, would stop the household cap of £20,000 per household outside of London. The cap in London is £23,000. Parents must work for at least 16 hours a week to avoid the cap.

Getting rid of the benefit cap was not in Labour’s general election manifesto.

The shadow work and pensions secretary brought up the impact on child poverty that the cap has. Last week a judicial review brought by four families said that the cap brought “real misery” for families with young children, in comments reported by the BBC.

She said a Labour government would “make sure we would uphold the ruling from the court decision”.

Abrahams said on The Andrew Marr show: “We recognise that for some people listening to this that might seem like an awful lot of money but the reality is, what I’ve just said, the implications for people in the poorest circumstances, the implications around child poverty which affects children not just while they’re young but for the rest their lives – it affects how their brains develop and everything.”