Scores of the most underprivileged people in Lanarkshire have lost out on hundreds of pounds due to the benefit cap.
The latest numbers from the Department of Work and Pensions showed around 120,000 households across the UK were subject to the cap as of February 2022.
In South Lanarkshire 137 households saw their universal credit benefits capped, while in neighbouring North Lanarkshire the figure was even higher, at 164 homes.
A smaller number of homes are likely to have been affected through caps to housing benefit.
Because their benefits are capped, these families saw no increase in their income at all when most benefits were increased by 3.1 per cent in April this year, which charity the Child Poverty Action Group stated meant they were, in reality, seeing their income cut due to rising inflation.
The cap limits the amount of benefits that low-earning or non-working households across the UK can receive to £20,000.
Rutherglen MSP Clare Haughey has over 55 families in her area affected by the cap and has called on the Tory Government to scrap it.
She told Lanarkshire Live : "Ever since its introduction in 2013, this callous policy has done nothing but punish the most vulnerable and severely limit their ability to provide for themselves and their families.
"As the Tory cost of living crisis ravages households across the country, it is important we look at ways of supporting people financially, not constructing more barriers and taking money out of their pockets.
"It is long past time the disgraceful benefit cap went."
Of the 120,000 households across the country, around 103,000, or 86 per cent, are families.
John Dickie, director of the CPAG in Scotland, told us : "The cost of living crisis shows that the UK Government’s benefit cap is broken, and needs to go. It has always forced families to live on much less than they need, but as prices spiral the effects are brutal and across the UK more than 300,000 children are among its casualties."
A DWP spokesman said the benefit cap provided a “strong work incentive” and ensured fairness for taxpayers by encouraging people to move into work when possible.
He stated: "We keep the cap under review and any revision would align with the timing of decisions on uprating benefits, with changes taking effect the following April."
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