SCRAP UNFAIR BENEFITS CAP

MINISTERS FACE NEW DEMAND | Nats appeal for a lifeline to struggling Scots households

- ANDREW QUINN

THE SNP has urged the Tories to scrap the "unfair" benefit cap and increase payments in line with cost of living rises.

Ahead of Wednesday's Budget statement by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the Nats warned that families are being left to languish in poverty under the Tories' welfare policies.

They said the Government's approach created "an unnecessary burden on households.

Benefits in Scotland are capped at £384.62 a week, or £1666.67 a month for couples or single parents whose children live with them. They are capped at £257.69 a month or £1116.67 a month for single people.

It affects people who receive Universal Credit, Child Benefit, Housing Benefit and several other welfare payments.

Recent analysis from the Child Poverty Action Group found it was a "fallacy" that the benefit cap encouraged people to work.