Bishops sign open letter criticising welfare reforms

Eighteen Church of England bishops have signed an open letter, criticising the government's proposed welfare reforms. In the letter, in The Observer, the bishops express concerns about plans to limit the amount any household can claim in benefits to £500 a week. Their intervention has received the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York. The government says the reforms are designed to reduce a culture of benefit dependency. The bishops say the cap could be "profoundly unjust" to children in the poorest families and that they have a "moral obligation to speak up for those who have no voice". They are backing a series of amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill - due to be debated in the House of Lords on Monday - which have been tabled by the Bishop of Leeds and Ripon, Reverend John Packer. 'Falling into poverty' He told the BBC: "It is unusual for a very considerable number of bishops to come together and to sign a letter and we do consider we have a very particular concern for children and to prevent children from falling into poverty." "The bill as it stands looks to us as though it could cause very considerable damage to children - particularly those in larger families, it being no fault of the children that they're in larger families," he added. The government says the changes, due to come into effect in 2013, will save £7bn in welfare spending and will encourage people currently on benefits to go out and find a job. The signatories are from the dioceses of Bath and Wells; Blackburn; Bristol; Chichester; Derby; Exeter; Gloucester; Guildford; Leicester; Lichfield; London; Manchester; Norwich; Oxford; Leeds and Ripon; St Edmundsbury and Ipswich; Truro; and Wakefield. Earlier this month church leaders in Northern Ireland warned that the reforms would push vulnerable people into "precarious levels of poverty". It is estimated the cap, which would apply to the combined income from benefits such as jobseekers' allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit, could result in about 50,000 families being about £93 a week worse off. London is expected to be one of the worst affected areas, because of the high cost of renting in the capital. Earlier this week a study, on behalf of London Councils, said about 133,000 households in London would be unable to afford their rent if the proposed changes go ahead.