Diane says benefit cap will force poor, disabled and elderly out of exclusive London postcodes

Diane has slammed the Coalition’s cap on housing benefit saying its purpose is to force hardworking poor people out of some of London’s most exclusive areas.

Figures show that 99.8% of people who claim housing benefit will be affected by the cap but of these, 60% actually work, care for somebody or are pensioners.

In London alone, one third or 33% of claimants of Local Housing Allowance are actually in employment.

In a debate on the Comprehensive Spending Review yesterday (Thursday), Diane said she believed the Government plans were about pushing poor people out of desirable neighbourhoods in London.

Ministers estimate that 21,000 households will be affected by the cap on different size homes when the housing benefit cap comes into force next April - 17,000 of them in London.

Diane said today:

“The majority of people claiming housing benefit are not unemployed and sitting around watching daytime TV as the Coalition often likes to suggest.

They are hard working people, working in low paid jobs or people looking after disabled people or pensioners, who rely on benefits to top up their salaries to enable them to live areas in which they have lived all their lives.

The Coalition is penalising these people by making it harder for them to stay in their jobs and their homes, rather than rewarding them their hard work, which is just wrong.”

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