Report of the Chief Executive

This Council notes :-

(1)  The worrying official statistics published on 22nd June 2021 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that show that hundreds more families in the North East have seen their benefits capped since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

(2)  In Darlington, 184 families had their benefits capped during February 2021, which was a rise of 56% on the same period last year. Households impacted lose an average of £62 per week.

(3)  Most families affected by the cap cannot work to escape its effect— as many are looking after young children or cannot find affordable childcare they can combine with work and single parenting. In fact, of the households impacted this year in Darlington, 133 were headed by single parents.

(4)  Many households who have lost jobs to Covid-19 are now subject to the cap, even though in the pandemic it is much harder to find ways to replace their lost earnings and thereby become exempt.

(5)  The cap limits the total amount of benefits low-earning or non-working claimants can receive.  Universal Credit claimants are exempt if they earn at least £617 per month (equivalent to working 16 hours per week on minimum wage).

(6)  Many families are earning their poverty as three quarters of children in poverty live in working families.

This Council resolves :-

(1)  That the leaders of all political parties represented on this council write a joint letter to our two MPs seeking their support for a review of the benefit cap policy aimed at people who could work but chose not to being applied to single parents with young children and those, through no fault of their own, have been impacted by the structural economic changes brought on by Covid.

(2)  That data is collected and made available to the Health and Housing Scrutiny Committee on a quarterly basis highlighting the number of applications (both successful and unsuccessful) for discretionary housing benefits from Darlington residents whose benefits have been capped.