Call for abolition of UK benefit cap as latest figures released

The data shows that 123,000 households, containing 302,000 children, are trapped in poor housing and extreme poverty

Charities have called on the government to abolish the benefit cap after the latest official figures showed 123,000 households containing an estimated 302,000 children were subject to it, trapping them in poor housing and extreme poverty.

Campaigners said increasing numbers of households were being made homeless and were suffering hardship as a result of the benefit cap, with single parents, female survivors of domestic abuse and children disproportionately affected.