Thousands of children have to move from central London

Thousands of school children in central London may be forced to move home and school because of housing benefits cuts.

More than 4,000 children are estimated to be living in Westminster, the borough which will be most affected by the housing benefit caps. Also Islington, Camden and Kensington & Chelsea will be impacted by the Government’s benefit shake-up; nearly 3,500 children in total are expected to have to move from these boroughs.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, stressed that he had secured significant concessions from the Government including more funding, incentives for landlords to reduce rents and more time for existing claimants before benefit caps become effective. He wants to ensure that the welfare changes are brought in ‘humanely’.

The manoeuvre will anyway cause huge disruption to thousands of families, increase pressure on school places in outer London and risk leaving schools in the centre of the capital struggling with a number of surplus places which may be costly to maintain.

The restrictions on housing benefit payments, which came into force in April for new claimants, are meant to stop people from getting over £100,000 a year to leave in homes the average family can only dream of.
The benefit caps will apply to people already receiving the benefits from next January.