Speaking at the Conservative party conference today, the chancellor George Osborne pledged to freeze benefits for two years after the next election, in 2016 to make savings of £3 billion.
The freeze will affect jobseekers’ allowance, income support, tax credits, child benefit and housing benefit.
Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, called the move a ‘brutal blow’ for millions of families already hit hard by repeated cuts to critical support.
‘The majority of those affected would be the children of working parents who would see further real-term cuts to their child benefit and child tax credits,' he said.
‘Far too many families in this country are already struggling to provide a basic standard of living for their children because of the three-year one per cent annual cap in benefit rises put in place at the start of last year.
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