The cap on the total amount of benefit that a family can claim saw 23 families hit the benefits ceiling last year.
This was up from 6 who had reached the cap in 2013
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The level of the cap is:
- £500 a week for couples (with or without children living with them)
- £500 a week for single parents whose children live with them
- £350 a week for single adults who don’t have children, or whose children don’t live with them
Spare room subsidy
The numbers suffering a loss of housing benefit income because of the “spare room subsidy” (Bedroom Tax) has fallen from 791 in 2013, to 677 today
The change is thought to have been influenced by the larger numbers of tenants now in work and by some opting to transfer to smaller properties.
The government’s policy was –and remains – controversial not least because in York there is a shortage of one and two bedroomed property available for social rent.
Consequently only relatively small numbers of tenants actually have the opportunity to “downsize” to avoid the penalty.