The cap has a disproportionate effect on women and children and can make life impossible for victims of domestic violence
Supreme Court judges have found that the government’s benefit cap fails to comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says the interests of the child must be paramount.
Although the Court declined to overturn the controversial policy, which it said was a matter for the political and not the legal arena, three of the five judges said that the cap deprived children of ‘the basic necessities of life’ and made them ‘suffer from a situation which is not of their making and which they themselves can do nothing about’.
The benefit cap, which was introduced in 2013, limits the benefits an out-of-work family can receive to £500 per week. This includes housing benefit and benefits for children, and is applied regardless of family size or circumstances such as rental costs.
The appeal was brought by two single mothers and their children who had fled domestic violence and were threatened with homelessness as a result of the cap. One of the women lives in a two-bedroom flat with her six children, the youngest of whom is four years old. The woman, referred to as Mrs SG, was unable to sustain a job because of the demands of childcare. After rent, the benefits cap left her and her children with £80 per week to live on.
The second woman, Mrs NS, fled violence and sexual abuse with her three children, but found that the benefits cap left her with a shortfall of £50 per week in rent. Although her husband had been ordered to stay away from children, in her desperation Mrs NS was forced to turn to him for money.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) intervened in the case, providing evidence that the cap has a disproportionate effect on women and children and that the money saved is ‘marginal at best’.
Lady Hale, one of the judges, added that:
“As CPAG point out, the government accepted in its grounds of resistance to the claim that ‘the aim of incentivising claimants to work may be less pertinent for those who are not required to work’ (such as parents with young children)”.
A majority found that the benefits cap did not breach Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination. This meant that the appeal was dismissed, because the European Convention is incorporated into UK law, while the UN Convention is not. However Lord Carnwath, who provided the crucial swing vote dismissing the appeal, said nevertheless that he hoped the government would consider its compliance with international law in its review of the benefit cap.
Commenting today, Alison Garnham, chief executive of the CPAG, said:
“The women and children involved in this case were escaping horrific abuse. As three of the judges have said: ‘It cannot be in the best interests of the children affected by the cap to deprive them of the means of having adequate food, clothing, warmth and housing’. We hope the Government will listen to the Court and comply with international law on the protection of children.”
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
47 Responses to “Benefit cap breaches children’s rights, says Supreme Court”
Kevin Stall
You have no concept how business works, do you? If a landlord has a property he is trying to earn money with. All expenses for the property come out of the income they make from the property. If you add a tax to it, it doesn’t come from their pocket. It will become part of the rent. They may pay it up front but the next person to rent the house will find it has increased by that amount. So rents will go up in general as more people have to pay your arbitrary tax. You are just raising the cost of housing to make you feel better.
Kevin Stall
The French problem is that the rich are not serfs or chattel and are free to move and take their money elsewhere.
As long as the poor yes need food and shelter. And I am all in favour of providing it. But they support should be at a subsistence level, not more than the working people receive. There is nothing wrong with taking charity, but it is not a way to live.
If what you say is true about wages being at a low % of GDP going to wages, that is when you need to be even more careful with the limited funds available. If it is a scarce commodity then it must be spent wisely not thrown away hap hazardly.
Kevin Stall
Every property occupied or not pays tax. Not your imaginary tax put rates and council tax which is basically just a property tax. It is a unique thing in the UK, renters can be held responsible for it. But they would pay for it one way or another. Either through their rent or by being directly responsible for it.
Guest
Keep talking nonsense.
You are ignoring what I said, of course. Because you don’t read pleb’s posts or whatever other excuse you have today.
Remember, readers, I’m taking about a new tax on unoccupied property.
Guest
Keep trying to demand problems be as you imagine them.
And right, you’re a good little slaver, demanding the poor be fed scraps in a poorhouse, how unsurprising. As you demand it go down faster and faster, and that as much as possible be withheld from the 99%.
And of course you’ll murder people who dare need charity, They must not live, blah blah.