London households affected by the benefit cap (2014-2026 Q1)
Last updated: August 2026
Next estimated update: September 2027
What does this indicator show?
This indicator shows the number of households in London who are affected by the benefit cap, and how much income they are missing out on because of the cap.
The benefit cap explained
The benefit cap limits the amount of money that most working-age people can receive from benefits. In Greater London the limit is £25,323 per year or £16,697 for single adults with no children. The level was last increased in April 2023.
The benefit cap is applied by either reducing Universal Credit or Housing Benefit (for those not claiming Universal Credit).
Why is the benefit cap important
By limiting people’s incomes, the policy has a huge impact on poverty - pushing many into poverty, or deeper poverty.
This is especially important following the government’s decision to scrap the two-child limit, another policy which limited people’s income by capping the number of children that families can receive means-tested benefits for at two.
Ending this policy will have a huge impact, and help hundreds of thousands of children. But the impact will be blunted by the benefit cap, because many larger families will see their income simply capped by this policy instead.
How many London households are affected by the benefit cap?
38,320 households in London had their income reduced by the benefit cap in February 2026. This has increased by nearly 95% since before the pandemic (February 2020). However, the number of households affected by the benefit cap is lower now than the peak of 60,305 households during the pandemic (February 2021).
The data refers to the month of February for each year spanning 2014 to 2026, and includes caps to Housing Benefit until 2016 and Housing Benefit and out-of-work Universal Credit combined, from 2017 onwards. The data disaggregated by type of benefit and region (London, rest of England) can be found in the CSV download.
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