Welfare cuts will force families to food banks, CSAN warns

CUTS to welfare spending announced in the Summer Budget this week will have severe consequences for vulnerable people, the Church’s social-action arm has warned.

Helen O’Brien, Chief Executive of the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN), said that the Chancellor’s plan to lower the benefit cap, from £26,000 to £20,000 and £23,000 in London, would push families deeper into poverty, forcing them to rely on food banks and charities.

Also among the £12bn of cuts that George Osborne announced in the first Conservative Budget for more than 18 years, was a cut in support for larger families, with child tax credits only extending to two children.

The Chancellor also announced the introduction of a compulsory National Living Wage, starting at £7.20 per hour next year and rising to £9 an hour by 2020.