Freezing working-age benefits could save £4bn - but come at 'terrible cost'
manchestereveningnews.co.ukFreezing working-age benefits next year could save the Treasury more than £4bn but at a “terrible cost” of plunging an additional 400,000 children into poverty, it has been warned.
The Resolution Foundation said its research suggested that scrapping the uprating of working-age benefits in line with prices inflation next year would reduce the incomes of nine million households by an average of £470.
The move, reportedly under consideration by the Chancellor, would also push an additional 400,000 UK children into absolute poverty, it said.
In calculations published in a briefing document on Saturday, researchers at the foundation said such a decision could save Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as much as £4.2 billion in what is likely to be his final Budget in the spring before a general election.
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