Jackie Baillie has thrown her support behind the Poverty Alliance’s Scrap the Cap campaign to support families who are struggling to make ends meet.

Today (Tuesday, January 18^th), the charity launched their campaign calling on the UK Government to remove the cap, which is equivalent to a £55 reduction per week for those impacted.

The benefit cap, which came into effect in April 2013, is a limit on the total amount of means-tested benefit payments an individual or family can receive.

A total of 6437 households are currently capped in Scotland. Some 662 have been affected in West Dunbartonshire since the introduction of the cap and 241 in Argyll and Bute. Currently there are 117 households in West Dunbartonshire having benefits capped which comprises 101 with Universal Credit capped and 16 with housing benefit capped. In Argyll and Bute, there are currently 63 affected – six with housing benefit capped and the other 57 with a cap on Universal Credit.

With some exceptions, the cap affects households claiming benefits where no one works more than 15 hours per week. In practice, the policy impacts mostly on families with children, the majority of whom are women and those with high housing costs.

The Poverty Alliance say the cap is wrong as, in principle, it severs the link between the support a person needs and the level of support they receive.

Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie said: “The callous benefit cap introduced by the Conservatives plunges people across my constituency into poverty, with single parents particularly impacted.

“The policy does not place the interests of people, particularly hard-pressed families across Dumbarton, the Vale, Balloch, Helensburgh and Lomond, at its heart. Many people here are struggling to pay their bills especially during this current cost of living crisis and reversal of this unfair action would make a huge difference to them.

“Myself and my Labour colleagues have campaigned to reverse the benefit cap and it’s high time this was actioned.

“I stand alongside the Poverty Alliance in their quest to scrap the cap.”