CHILD poverty campaigners called on Prime Minister Liz Truss today to scrap the “truly catastrophic” benefit cap as the most vulnerable households are being left to struggle with the cost-of-living crisis.

Those whose benefits are capped will on average be left £65 a week worse off from April than they would be if there was no such limit, according to the Child Action Poverty Group.

About 120,000 households whose benefits are already capped, containing some 300,000 children, will not see any rise when benefits are increased next April in line with the current inflation rate, the campaign group said.

It warned that 35,000 households due to be newly capped in April will only see some of the increase before the limit kicks in.

The cap on benefits was introduced in 2013 by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government as part of its plans to give households “incentives to work.”

It limits the total amount of benefits that low-earning and non-working households can receive to £384.62 a week for families outside London and £442.31 a week for those in the capital.

The level has not increased since 2016, despite the rising cost of living.

Removing the cap to provide an “invaluable” additional £65 a week on average for affected households would cost £500 million, just 0.2 per cent of the total spend on social security, the Child Action Poverty Group said.

Chief executive Alison Garnham said: “The benefit cap is cruel and irrational at the best of times. Many parents subject to it can’t escape it by working more because they are caring for very young children and housing costs are completely out of their control.

“But in the current crisis, its effects will be truly catastrophic for hundreds of thousands of children, pushing many into deep poverty.

“It is early days for the new government and scrapping the cap would send a clear signal to families that the PM is on their side. There can be no doubt that leaving it in place will damage the lives of children up and down the country.”

The Department for Work and Pensions claimed that the cap provides a strong incentive to work and balances fairness for taxpayers with providing support.

It said that the government has already provided a £37 billion support package to help the public, along with the new energy bill cap of £2,500.