New £500 benefits cap defended by UK Government as it is rolled out The new benefits cap of £500 is being introduced across the country. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith defended the change as it was implemented on Monday. Couples and lone parents across the UK will not receive more than £500 a week under the new cap, with single people limited to £350 a week. Four London boroughs have already enforced the cap, while Mr Duncan Smith claimed a "very, very significant number" of people had gone out to work in affected households in those areas. He told BBC Breakfast: "A very, very significant number have gone out to work; in fact, what the jobcentre staff have told us as we have been going round is that they have seen a genuine increase since they have alerted people to the fact that they are likely to be in the cap. This is both about saving money and, more particularly, about changing a culture that had left families, particularly large families, finding it easy and a reality for their lives to stay out of work on taxpayers' benefits. Mr Duncan Smith said the "greatest effect" of the benefits cap would be in London and the South East. He added: "The key principle behind this all over the country is that those who work, those who are trying to do the best in their households, do not see others who are down the road, who are on benefits, on welfare, actually getting more than they do."