Benefit cap puts single mothers like me at risk of homelessness and destitution

Can the state ever justify inflicting extreme poverty and hunger on vulnerable people who are dependent on it for support? This is a question many have grappled with in the wake of decades of benefit cuts under the guise of austerity.

At face value, the benefit cap – which is different from the two-child limit and puts a cap on the total amount of financial support you can get – might sound justifiable. But those of us who have experienced it know the reality.

People are exempt from the benefit cap if they earn more than £846 a month. This was sold as a ‘work incentive’, but it can have serious consequences for families like mine.

Read more:

• After growing up in poverty, I know the anger 4.5 million children must feel
• How many children would be lifted out of poverty if the two-child limit was scrapped where you live?
• A single Home Office mistake ruined my teenage years and left me homeless for four years 

Claimants who fail to meet the earnings threshold can lose their right to live in an area of their choosing – or even in secure housing at all. That’s because if your benefits add up to more than the benefit cap limit, your housing benefit will be reduced.

As a single mother who once lived in temporary accommodation, it is a constant worry. If I don’t meet the earnings threshold, I may not be able to afford rent and my family could face homelessness.

The benefit cap has been described as “punitive” and “mean spirited” because it undermines basic needs. The ‘any-job-will-do’ approach has been criticised by single parent charity Gingerbread as pushing single parents into unsustainable, precarious employment – which could see them impacted by the cap in the future.

In 2013, six months after the cap had been introduced, my local council Enfield organised a course called the ‘Benefits Cap Scheme’. Having identified that many of us were having trouble securing employment due to a lack of work experience, the course promised fixed-term contracts in roles at the council.

These roles were supported by free childcare during the first few weeks of training, after which we were sent for three interviews in roles that were thought to suit our skills and hours that suited our caring responsibilities.

The scheme attempted to rectify many of the employment barriers faced by single parents. However, a quarter of the 100 participants that attended the first meeting were asked to leave as they had not been able to arrange childcare for their young children. 

After passing initial maths and English tests and completing training to develop work and interview skills, 20 of us were accepted into roles at the council. Of this group, at least three quarters were single parents with young children, unable to find suitable work and at risk of homelessness.

Difficulties in accessing childcare have been highlighted by campaigners against the cap as one of the ways in which it is discriminatory against women. More than two thirds (69%) of people affected by the benefit cap are single parents, of whom 85% are women.

The children’s charity CPAG has noted the contradiction between mandatory capping and no work conditionality. More than a third (34%) of individuals affected by the cap are assessed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as not required to look for a job because they are caring for very young children. The charity believes this challenges the fairness of the cap.

The council were much less successful in helping us access housing. The majority of the 20 participants were at risk of homelessness and were moved into temporary accommodation at different times in the following years.

After securing a one-year fixed term contract at the register office, I have been able to remain in employment since. However, employment didn’t stop me being forced into temporary accommodation in 2015 due to the rent arrears I had incurred when unemployed, showing the long-reaching effects of the cap.

Whilst no specific data exists to indicate how many families impacted by the cap are currently in temporary housing, the connection between the cap and displacement of working-class families from cities is self-evident. It is reported that in the first two months of the cap’s introduction, 15 families with 46 children were moved out of London by Enfield council alone. 

London is more affected by the benefit cap than any other region, with 30% of all cases capped since 2013 living in the capital. Displacement and destabilisation of working-class families and communities appears to lie at the heart of the policy, as the cap is ineffective in terms of supporting claimants back to work, and years of temporary housing for those impacted by the cap, even for just a short time, is expensive for government.

One of the biggest misrepresentations of the cap is the idea that people can fully escape it. As a single mother of four living in privately-rented accommodation in London the cap feels inescapable. My experience of being moved into temporary accommodation makes me acutely aware that failing to meet the earnings threshold, for just a couple of months, could see me unable to pay the rent and risk homelessness. 

I was recently capped again as my two zero-hour term-time only contracts do not pay me during the holidays. These pressures make it difficult to take time off, even amid serious health concerns, and have illuminated how deeply gendered discrimination appears to be embedded in the cap.

In the context of high rents, expensive childcare and insecure work, the benefit cap puts women like me at risk of displacement and destitution.

Clare Bowen is a participant of Changing Realities, a participatory research project made up of parents/carers, researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and York, and Child Poverty Action Group. It aims to both document life on a low income in the UK and create opportunities to amplify the voices of people with lived experience.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life this Christmas.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – or support online with a vendor support kit or a subscription – and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.