A few weeks before Christmas, George Osborne told the Treasury select committee of his intention to cut “billions” more from the welfare budget if the Tories are in government after the next election, but refused to “put a number on it”. Today, in his first speech of the year, he gave us that number, revealing that his department has forecast that “£12bn of further welfare cuts are needed in the first two years of next Parliament.” He added:
- The restriction of child-related benefits for families with more than two children.
- A lower rate of benefits for the under-21s.
- Preventing school leavers from claiming benefits.
- Paying benefits in kind (like free school meals), rather than in cash.
- Reducing benefit levels for the long-term unemployed. Cameron said: “Instead of US-style time-limits – which remove entitlements altogether – we could perhaps revise the levels of benefits people receive if they are out of work for literally years on end”.
- A lower housing benefit cap. Cameron said that the current limit of £20,000 was still too high.
- The abolition of the “non-dependent deduction”. Those who have an adult child living with them would lose up to £74 a week in housing benefit.
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