The government will split the roll-out of its benefit cap into two phases, it has announced.
The Department for Work and Pensions has written to local authorities explaining the wider introduction of the policy will be spilt into two ‘tranches’.
The first will begin on 15 July and take in 335 councils where 275 households or fewer will be affected by the cap, based on the latest DWP data. A second phase will begin on 12 August, encompassing 40 councils that have more than 275 households affected.
The roll-out will be complete by the end of September.
The benefit cap will set a limit on the total amount that can be claimed in benefits of £500 a week for couples and lone parents, and £350 a week for single adults. It was introduced in four London boroughs on 15 April: Enfield, Croydon, Haringey and Bromley.
Households that currently receive more in benefits than are permitted under the cap will have their housing benefit payments cut to bring them below the overall threshold.
The DWP letter says the government has ‘been writing regularly to all potential benefit cap claimants to give them advance notice that the cap may apply to them and explaining the support available’