CHESTER will bear the brunt of cuts to housing benefits, new figures have revealed.
A report by the Department for Work and Pensions has claimed thousands of Cheshire West and Chester households are set to be hit hard when the changes come into force next April.
Nearly 4,000 families across the area face losing up to £650 a year, making Chester the worst-hit part of the North West, it warns.
The cuts have been branded ‘ferocious’, with Blacon and Lache being predicted to suffer the most.
Blacon Cllr Alex Tate said: “I knew this housing benefit cap was going to affect London but it was shocking to see the reality of government policies impacting on our area so ferociously.
“I think it will have more of an effect on areas of high depravation such as Blacon and the Lache. We will see knock-on effects which will affect people’s wellbeing and living standards.”
Council chiefs have vowed to help those worst affected.
Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) spokesman Laura Johnson said: “We must stress that while early figures suggest that CWaC residents may be affected, there are several sets of proposals being considered at present and these figures are only indicative.
“We will not know the actual implications until later on in the year.
“The Department for Work and Pensions recognises that there may be a need for extra financial support for some individual households during the transition from the old scheme allowances to any proposed new ones, where there may be a reduction in housing benefit payments.
“Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs), the funding to local authorities to support any shortfalls between actual rent to pay and the amount of housing benefit being received, will therefore be increased.”
She added: “Cheshire West and Chester Council is committed to supporting residents who may be affected by the changes.”
Chester MP Stephen Mosley said the changes would only affect people living in high-cost accommodation.
He said: “Today, there are some families receiving £104,000 a year in housing benefits to live in million-pound houses.
“The cost of a £100,000 housing benefit award is equivalent to the total income tax and national insurance paid by 16 working people on average incomes.
“It is unacceptable and unaffordable that people on benefits are living in homes that our hard-working families cannot afford.
“To tackle this problem, the coalition government have introduced a national cap on housing benefit claims which ranges from £250 a week for one-bedroom properties to £400 a week for four-bedroom properties or larger.
“The changes will affect people living in high-cost accommodation where there is a plentiful supply of less expensive accommodation and will prevent housing benefit recipients from receiving more in housing benefit than they pay in rent.”
North West TUC regional secretary Alan Manning added: “It is crystal clear that some of the North West’s poorest families are now paying the price for the bankers’ recession, while the banks themselves are returning massive profits.”
A package of measures was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his Emergency Budget to cut the housing benefit bill by £1.8 billion by 2014/15.