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Almost 200,000 children have seen their parent's income fall as a result of Tories decision to lower the benefits cap.

The Tory benefit cap means some of the UK's most vulnerable families could have lost as much as £7.6million since February.

Tens of thousands of households across the UK are losing as much as £115 a week after Damien Green's latest round of Conservative cuts.

Figures released today that a total of 66,135 families across the UK had their benefits slashed in February.

in November Mrs May forced through a new benefit cap that limits the amount of benefits any household can receive to £20,000 a year - or £343 a week.

The cap drops to £13,400 a year - for single people - without children living with them.

Out of those seeing their benefits capped earlier this year, 48,880 were capped only because cap levels have been lowered - not because they received more in benefits.

In comparison, only 20,189 households in Great Britain had their benefits capped during the same month just a year earlier.

Of those having their benefits capped in February of this year, the majority were single parent families with dependant children.

(Image: PA)

Overall, at least 198,000 children across the country were affected by the cap that month.

Most benefits are included under the cap, including Universal Credit, Jobseekers’ Allowance, Income Support, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit.

Controversially it also includes Housing Benefit, despite it being paid straight to landlords - and this is the benefit that is actually being cut.

This means households seeing their benefits slashed by the cap will be paying more rent out of their own pockets, making housing potentially unaffordable to many of the poorest people in the country.

Speaking about the cap earlier this week Labour MP Karen Buck said: “As the benefit cap starts to bite across Britain it looks from the evidence we’ve seen so far like a drastic cut to income for people who are really unable to cut their living costs any further.

“The evidence does not show us that being plunged further into poverty encourages or helps people to find work, and the vast majority of those hit by this cut are already recognised as unable to work at the moment.

“It is very hard to see any benefit from the benefit cap.”