Help scrap the Benefit Cap which traps women and children in violent relationships.

The campaign group Women Against Rape is asking organisations and individuals to support women and children impoverished by the Benefit Cap after escaping violent relationships by signing a petition asking for the Benefit Cap to be scrapped.

A test case is being fought in court on behalf of families impoverished by the Benefit Cap after they have escaped from violence, a legal challenge on behalf of affected families will be heard in the Court of Appeal on 27 and 28 January.

One third of women in have suffered domestic violence. In England and Wales two women are killed by partners or ex-partners every week.

The Benefit Cap limits a family’s total benefit to £500 per week, including rent and Child Benefit.

So far, there is no exemption from the Cap for victims of violence, so extortionate rent, including for some refuges and hostels, leaves mothers and children with little or no income to live on.

Many victims of violence are unable to get a job immediately or to move to a cheaper area – they need to stay close to friends and relatives for support, and time to recover and to reassure distressed children.

Women Against Rape was among the groups demonstrating at the High Court in October, and heard in court what the mothers and children have gone through, including living for years in run-down housing.

They are represented by Rebekah Carrier, of Hopkin Murray Beskine, who describes the Cap as catastrophic, cruel and arbitrary.

“Two of the families have fled domestic violence in circumstances where they were financially reliant upon their abusive partners, and they now face a stark choice between descending further into poverty and risking losing their homes, or returning to their abusers in order to escape the imposition of the cap.”

Just imagine.

Please sign this petition and call on the government to put the safety of women and children first by lifting the Benefit Cap so they are not trapped in violent relationships where they risk injury, trauma and even death.

Thank you.