To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the impact that the four-year freeze on income-related benefits will have on family budgets in England and Wales.
Answered on
2 November 2017
The Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 has frozen the majority of working-age benefits for four tax years, from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The analysis published at the time of the 2015 Budget assesses the impact of the measures in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. 30 per cent of households were estimated to be impacted by the benefit rate freeze. The average notional loss was estimated to be £6 a week in 2019/20. This analysis does not take into account employment effects in response to our welfare reforms. I attach the analysis to this response.