WELFARE REFORM FOR FAMILIES WITH DISABLED CHILDREN IS DEFEATED

by liamssoft | February 1, 2012 at 01:35 pm

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CONTROVERSIAL welfare reform plans were defeated in the House of Lords yesterday, delivering an embarrassing blow to the Government.

Peers voted by 246 to 230 against plans to cut payments to families with disabled children.

It is the seventh defeat peers have inflicted on the Welfare Reform Bill.

The biggest showdown came over the Government’s £26,000-a-year benefits cap and plans to charge parents to access the Child Support Agency.

Peers backed a third reading amendment put forward by independent crossbench peer Baroness Meacher to limit cuts to top-up payments made to the parents of disabled children. The Government wants to increase the weekly rate for the most disabled children while halving the lower rate to £27.

Baroness Meacher’s successful amendment specifies that the lower rate must be at least two-thirds of the higher rate. The Bill returns to the Commons today where the Government has threatened to overturn all defeats.

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