Research and analysis

Lower benefit cap: quantitative analysis of outcomes of capped households

The report assesses the quantitative impact of the lower benefit cap on household’s employment, exempting benefit and housing outcomes.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 20 April 2023
• Last updated: 11 May 2023 — See all updates

Documents

Research summary: findings from the mixed methods longitudinal evaluation

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Evaluation of the lower benefit cap

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Evaluation of the lower benefit cap

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78659-520-1

PDF, 1.58 MB, 91 pages

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Lower benefit cap: quantitative analysis of outcomes of capped households

Ref: ISBN 9781786595195, 1027

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Lower benefit cap: quantitative analysis of outcomes of capped households

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78659-519-5

PDF, 3.92 MB, 133 pages

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Lower benefit cap: quantitative analysis of outcomes of capped households data tables

ODS, 153 KB

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Details

The benefit cap was introduced in April 2013 across Great Britain, as part of the Coalition Government’s strategy to reform the welfare system and incentivise work.

It limits the total amount of benefit income that working-age households can receive. Between November 2016 and January 2017 the benefit cap was reduced from previous levels, and tiered according to where households were located.

This evaluation, commissioned in 2016, consisted of two strands:

1. An assessment of the quantitative impact of the lower benefit cap on households’ employment, exempting benefit and housing outcomes after twelve months

2. A mixed quantitative and qualitative study to evaluate the effects of the new lower benefit cap on affected claimants’ behaviours towards employment, its wider impacts (for example, on housing choices) and to better understand the driving forces behind different responses to the cap.

Published 20 April 2023
Last updated 11 May 2023 + show all updates

1. 11 May 2023

   Accessible HTML versions have been added for the Evaluation of the lower benefit cap and Lower benefit cap: quantitative analysis of outcomes of capped households.

2. 20 April 2023

   First published.