The government has underestimated the combined impact of three different benefit cuts coming into effect at once, a think tank has claimed.
The New Policy Institute today publishes a report looking at the impact of the bedroom tax, council tax benefit changes and the overall benefit cap.
The research finds 2.6 million will be hit by at least one of the three cuts while just under 500,000 will be hit by at least two of the three changes.
Of the estimated 660,000 people hit by the bedroom tax, two-thirds are also hit by cuts to council tax benefit as well. Those affected by both measures will lose £16.90 of income a week – 20 per cent higher than the government’s estimate for the impact of the bedroom tax alone.
The NPI also estimates that 1.6 million households affected by the cuts are already in poverty and more than half contain a disabled adult.