Before this afternoon’s consideration of the benefits cap in the Lords, the DWP have published a new impact assessment here which has a couple of puzzling pieces in it.

In the new paper it says:

Initially the intention is that that cap will be delivered by Local Authorities through Housing Benefit payments. Ultimately it will be administered as part of the new Universal Credit system. Before the introduction of Universal Credit, this cap will apply to the combined income from the main out of work benefits, Housing Benefit, and other benefits such as Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Carer’s Allowance.

This seems to contradict Lord Freud who said, on the 23rd Nov 2011 in Committee, in an exchange with Lord Mackenzie:

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My Lords, … I have a technical question for the Minister. As I understand it, before we get to universal credit, the variety of benefits that people have will be looked at. That will go into the calculation on one side. We will compare that with the earnings comparator and the difference will be withdrawn by way of reduction of housing benefit. Is that right? So that will be administered by local authorities.

Lord Freud: No; we have made it clear that it would apply to housing benefit and not to other benefits. The cap will not have full coverage until universal credit comes in.

Presumably, in either case the maximum cap which can be applied will be the amount of Housing Benefit otherwise payable and no cap can apply to those who do not have a Housing Benefit entitlement. If it is the case that other benefits, some frequently changing, are to be capped by local authorities through Housing Benefit, I will be extremely interested to see the mechanism that will be used.

The savings figure also seems to have increased, from last year’s impact assessment, by sixty million pounds a year and the number of households affected has increased from 50,000 to 67,000. As the new estimates take account of the LHA cap, which may be assumed to impact a number of households affected by the benefits cap, it casts some doubt on the data which was used when considering the cap initially.

I, like everyone, awaits this afternoon’s debate with interest.