In April 2017, many social security changes come into force that affect children and young people. We outline their impact.
|
What has happened? |
What does this mean? |
Amount of cuts in 2019-20 |
|
From 10 April 2017 Universal credit taper rate reduced from 65% to 63% |
• Claimants who work will be able to keep more money - 37p for every £1 earned in work above work allowances rather than 35p for every £1 earned. • Will affect about 173,000 people. |
[cost of £0.4 billion] |
|
From 6 April 2017 Universal credit, child tax credit and housing benefit two-child limit introduced |
• New claimants who have a third or subsequent child will not be eligible for support for that child or any future children, with limited exceptions. • Breaks the link between need and support - a fundamental pillar of our social security system. • Will leave families with more than two children with less money than they need to raise their family - £2,780 less for each ineligible child than they'd have got before this change. • Will push up to 200,000 more children into poverty. • Will affect about 510,000 families in 2019-20. |
£1.2 billion |
|
From 6 April 2017 Child tax credit family element, and first child element in universal credit scrapped for new claimants |
• Families will miss out on £545 a year. • Will affect about 970,000 families in 2019-20. |
£0.54 billion |
|
From 6 April 2017 Bereavement benefits replaced with bereavement support payment |
• 91% of newly-widowed parents will be supported for a shorter time, and 75% will be worse off in cash terms (by £12,000 for the average working parent, but by over £30,000 in certain circumstances). • Those with younger children will be disproportionately badly affected. |
£0.1 billion a year once implemented |
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From 3 April 2017 Parents expected to do more to look for work under universal credit |
• All parents will have to start work-focused interviews when their youngest child turns 1, work preparation when that child turns 2, and looking for work when he or she turns 3. | Not applicable |
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From 3 April 2017 Employment and support allowance work-related activity component, and limited capability for work element in universal credit abolished |
• New ESA claimants, deemed to be fit to do work-related activity, will miss out on £1,510 per year. • Equivalent component in universal credit also abolished for new claimants. • There are currently 429,000 people in the work-related activity group. |
£0.35 billion |
|
From 3 April 2017 Employment and support allowance permitted work limit removed, and sanction levels reduced |
• Claimants who do permitted work for less than 16 hours a week, earning up to £120 a week, can carry on working and continue to claim after 52 weeks. • Sanctioned claimants will get 80% of their claim, rather than the 60% they got before - unless they receive the work-related activity component. |
Figures not available |
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From 1 April 2017 Benefit cap exemptions related to earnings changed from a flat rate |
• Universal credit claimants become exempt from the benefit cap if they earn the equivalent of what they (a single person or at least one person within a couple) would earn from working 16 hours a week at the national living wage. | Figures not available |
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From 1 April 2017 Universal credit claimants aged 18-21 not eligible for the housing cost element |
• New claimants will not be eligible for the housing cost element, with some exceptions. | £0.035 billion |
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From April 2017 Universal credit claimants aged 18-21 subject to a new youth obligation |
• 18-21 year olds will have to either apply for an apprenticeship or training, or attend work placement, after six months on universal credit. | Not applicable |
Changes already in place
| What has happened? | What does this mean? | Amount of cuts in 2019-20 |
|
From 16 March 2017 Changes to personal independence payment assessment criteria |
• New regulations reverse effect of two upper tribunal decisions on daily living activity 3, ’managing therapy or monitoring a health condition’, and mobility activity 1, ’planning and following journeys’. • Could affect up to 339,500 people. |
£3.7 billion between 2016-17 and 2021-22 |
|
From November 2016 Benefit cap reduced from £26,000 to £23,000 in London / £20,000 outside London |
• Forecast to cut the benefit income of 116,000 households, including 320,000 children, by up to £115 per week. • Breaks the link between the needs of claimants and what they can claim, pushing many vulnerable households’ incomes below subsistence levels. • Of households capped in November 2016 only between 13% and 21% were in a position where they were expected to seek work. |
£305 million |
|
From April 2016 Most working-age benefits and child benefit frozen at 2015-16 levels for 4 years |
• With cost of living rising, all working-age claimants will be less able to buy the essentials. • Child benefit has increased only 2% since 2010. • A low-income family with two children will be almost £2,800 a year worse off by 2020 than they were ten years before. |
£3.47 billion |
|
From April 2016 Universal credit work allowances cut |
• Amount claimants can earn through work before their benefits start to be withdrawn has been cut. • Single parents do even worse. A single parent on minimum wage would need to work 46 days extra a year, just to carry on providing for their kids at the same level as before the cuts. • Will affect almost all in-work claimants - 173,300 in January 2017. |
£2.85 billion |
