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130 families with multiple children do not have enough money to meet their weekly needs, according to Employment & Social Security.
Announcing its annual report on non-contributory benefit rates, Employment & Social Security proposed that all of these benefits are uprated by 1.9% for 2020, with the exception of family allowance, which is still being reviewed.
The Committee also wants to increase the income support benefit limitation from £750 to £850 per week.
"In most cases, the combination of net earnings and income support top-up is enough to meet a household’s requirements, however, if their needs are in excess of £750 per week, their income will be capped at that amount," said ESS. "There are 130 families, including over 470 children, who do not have enough income to meet their weekly needs, as they are restricted by the current benefit limitation cap.
Pictured: ESS President Michelle Le Clerc said the changes to the revenue service were always likely to have an impact on some families.
"This is partly due to the amalgamation of the former supplementary benefit system and rent rebate scheme, which means that social housing tenants are now charged the full standard weekly rent, and therefore require more income to meet their needs. With larger properties, where the rent is higher, it is inevitable that more families are reaching the cap."
ESS President Michelle Le Clerc said it was "not right" that so many families were struggling.
“We all knew when we introduced welfare reforms in 2018 that there would be some families outside the benefit limitation cap," she said. "We will do everything we can to reduce this number as we believe it cannot be right that families are forced to live on an income that is below what the States considers to be the minimum to avoid an intolerable level of poverty.
"Increasing the benefit limitation to £850 will ensure that at least families with two or three children will not be limited by the cap, but there will still be 25 families with four or more children affected by this limitation.”
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