What is the Benefit Cap level?


There are different caps for those living inside and outside of London, and different rates for single adults, couples and families:


For couples (whether their children live with them or not) and single parents whose children live with them, the following caps apply:


• households living in London are entitled to a maximum of £23,000 a year (or £442.31 a week);


• households living outside the capital are entitled to a maximum of £20,000 a year (or £384.62 a week). 


In London, single adults without children living with them are entitled to a maximum of £15,410 a year (or £296.35 a week).


Outside Greater London, single adults without children, or whose children do not live with them, are entitled to a maximum of £13,400 a year (£257.69 a week). 


Households are also exempt from the cap if anyone gets any of the following benefits:


• Disability Living Allowance;


• Personal Independence Payment;


• Attendance Allowance;


• Carer’s Allowance;


• Guardian’s Allowance;


• the support component of Employment and Support Allowance; 


• Industrial Injuries Benefits (and equivalent war disablement pensions and payments under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme);


• War Pensions, War Widow’s and War Widower’s pension; 


• Armed Forces Independence Payment; and


• Universal Credit payments towards carers’ costs or for “limited capability for work and work-related activity”.


In June 2017, the High Court ruled that the benefit cap was unlawful, discriminatory and has resulted in real damage to the families affected. The judge was particularly critical that the cap is being applied to the benefits of lone parents with very young children who are not officially required to find work. In November 2016, the lone parent campaign group Gingerbread, reported that its analysis had found that single parents caring for a baby or toddler made up more than a third (35%) of all households hit by the lowered benefit cap. 


In March 2018 the government won its appeal against the High Court ruling. The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court ruling that the lower benefit cap unlawfully discriminates against lone parents with children aged under two. However, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said it “left the door open for a wider challenge to the lawfulness of the cap as it applies to all lone parents”. It said the Court had ruled that the case had not demonstrated that lone parents of children aged under two were substantially more disadvantaged by the cap than lone parents in general.


Commenting on the judgment, CPAG solicitor Carla Clarke said:


“The judgment is extremely disappointing for lone parents with children aged under two who have a heightened risk of being capped. There is an absurdity about a government policy which on the one hand recognises that lone parents of young children should not be expected to work but on the other punishes them and their children with the cap if they don’t have a paid job.”


Over 70% of capped families are headed by a lone parent, the large majority of whom are women.