BRADFORD will be one of the districts hardest hit by a cut in the benefits cap, which comes into effect on Monday.

Around 1,000 households in the district will see their benefits cut by up to £6,000 a year, according to Government estimates.

This places Bradford the joint eighth worst affected district in the country.

While the Government says the change will help make work pay, charities and foodbanks have expressed their alarm at how it could hit some of the poorest in society.

Keith Thomson, treasurer of the Bradford Metropolitan Food Bank, said he feared the change would leave more families unable to afford the basics like food, shelter and clothing.

He said: “It really is grossly unacceptable.”

Mr Thomson said they were expecting to be handing out yet more food parcels to help the most vulnerable households.

He said while intermediaries dropped off their food parcels for them, the food bank team often heard about the dire situations families were in.

He said: “They have a choice between buying shoes and clothes for their children, putting a roof over their head or eating.”

The cap limits the total amount someone can claim across 14 different benefits, including income support, housing benefit, jobseekers’ allowance, child benefit and universal credit.

People on carer’s allowance and most disability benefits are exempt.

On Monday, the cap will be cut from £26,000 to £20,000 for couples and families and from £18,200 to £13,400 for single people.

According to the Children’s Society, the households affected in Bradford include around 2,770 children.

Rob Jackson, its north area director, said: “The policy is targeted at workless adults, but the reality is that children are considerably more likely than adults to lose out and there is nothing fair about trying to balance the books on the backs of poor children.

“We fully support efforts to make work pay, but it is not right to achieve this by putting more children on the breadline.”

Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “I am concerned that 1,000 of the poorest families in Bradford will be hit by this latest Government attack on the most disadvantaged in society.”

Cllr Hinchcliffe said the council had already written to all families who would be hit by the cut, setting out where they could go to for advice.

She said it was tough to find a job in the current climate.

Labour MP for Bradford East, Imran Hussain, said he had “serious concerns that the city’s most vulnerable children will be dragged into poverty”.

He said: “The Government’s own impact assessment has itself admitted that rent arrears, evictions and homelessness are going to increase as a result of the cap.”

Mr Hussain said he disagreed with the idea of a cap at all, saying some families had greater needs than others.

But one Tory MP has said the cuts don’t go far enough.

Shipley MP Philip Davies said: “£20,000 a year is almost the average salary in the Bradford district and it seems to me quite perverse that somebody can be receiving in benefit handouts almost as much as the average salary of someone who is working full-time.

“As far as I’m concerned, people who go out to work should be better off than people who don’t go out to work in the benefits system.”

He said if anything, he would like to see the cap lowered still.

He said: “It should be under £20,000 in my opinion.”

Conservative MP for Keighley, Kris Hopkins, also backed the changes, saying it was a key part in the Government’s efforts to “restore fairness to the welfare state”.

He said someone who lost a long-term job would be exempt from the cap for the first 39 weeks while they searched for work.

He said: “I believe this is a fair approach as we seek to restore the nation’s finances after the devastation caused by Labour overspending.”

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said work was the “best route out of poverty” and the cap for families was the equivalent of a pre-tax salary of £25,000.

He said: “The benefit cap provides a clear incentive to move into a job, even if it is part time, as anyone eligible for working tax credits is exempt.”

Labour MPs Judith Cummins, for Bradford South, and Naz Shah, for Bradford West, were unavailable for comment.

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