Benefit deductions should be stopped until inflation falls, say MPs

Committee calls for breathing space' for millions whose universal credit is docked to repay advances, debts or overpayments

Ministers' policy of clawing back hundreds of pounds a year from benefits has been criticised by MPs, who say it has tipped low-income families into destitution.

About 2.4 million households - nearly half of all claimants on universal credit - have on average 62 docked each month to repay benefit advances, tax credit overpayments and debts owed to landlords and utility companies.