Benefits Cap Project

The Low Income Family Tracker (LIFT) Platform is a SaaS based interactive tool that allows local authorities to identify and support households with low financial resilience. It combines comprehensive welfare policy analytics engine with local authority administrative data to drive strategic and operational decisions. The platform helps councils design appropriate interventions and track their effectiveness 

When Coventry City Council purchased the tracker we requested to be part of the operation group to ensure welfare benefits expertise and up-to-date developments were factored into the council’s design and implementation. 

In 2022/23 Central England Law Centre championed a project to tackle the benefits cap which was causing hardship for families in Coventry.  In other cities and towns, the local authorities had focused on identifying families and encouraging them to increase their working hours to lift the cap.  In Coventry the Law Centre used its knowledge and skill to highlight that many families facing the cap could be exempt if they were offered specialist triage around their lives.  This triage includes considerations of working hours but also seeks to understand previous working periods, caring responsibilities and health conditions - working with families to provide legal advocacy and advice to secure exemptions from the cap.

Results

This pilot triaged 21 families and successfully removed the cap from 15 families.  Removing the need for ongoing discretionary housing payments, increasing household incomes and supporting families struggling to access entitlements.   

Through provision of legal advice and representation in the first stage of the project, the Law Centre forecast an average lump sum of over £17,000 per family and ongoing average monthly income increase of £299.

This project forms part of a broader aim to work with local authorities to provide earlier specialist advice.