The Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud has announced that letters are being sent to households who may be affected by the benefit cap.
Letters will set out the help that will be provided to get people into work as well as exemptions to the cap, online help and an information helpline.
The benefit cap comes into effect in April 2013 and will limit the amount of benefit couples and lone parent households can receive to around £500 a week. Benefit claims for single people will be limited to around £350.
The benefit cap will not apply to households where a person, their partner, any children they are responsible for and who live with them, qualify for Working Tax Credit or receive any of the following benefits:
One-off payments e.g. Social Fund Loans and non-cash benefits, for example Free School Meals, will not be included in the assessment of benefit income.
The following benefits all count when working out how much a person can get a week:
From October 2013, tax credits and benefits including Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit and Income Support will start to be merged into a single Universal Credit payment.
