Benefits cap on 1,300 top claimers saves £12m A cap on the benefits of 1,300 top-claiming families is saving the taxpayer £1 million a month, according to the Department of Work and Pensions. Some 33,000 families that were receiving more than £26,000 a year in Jobseeker's Allowance, housing benefit and child tax credits have seen their incomes drop sharply since the measure was introduced last April, the department said. They include 60 households that were receiving more than £900 a week in benefits - equivalent to a salary before tax of £68,000 a year. Their income has been cut by £400 a week. The 1,300 families were receiving £700 a week in hand-outs, and have seen their income cut by £200. More than 1,100 single people and 30 couples with no children also had their benefits cut, the department said. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the figures showed he has "fixed the broken system." Before our welfare changes, benefits were out of control and many people were rightly furious that hard-working families were earning less than some households on benefits. We have put a stop to this. Eighteen of the top 20 most-affected boroughs are in London, plus Birmingham and Manchester. "Already we have seen that 19,000 people who were potentially affected by the cap have moved into work, and, through Universal Credit we will ensure that work really does pay," said Mr Duncan Smith. The Government hopes to save £225 million over the next two years. Disabled people and war widows are exempt. Nearly a third of the families - 9,974 households - had five or more children, suggesting many of those receiving a lot in benefits were affected because they had large houses paid for by the taxpayer.