THIS week 55 of Oxford’s poorest families will lose up to £116 a week because the Government has decided to cut their benefits. From December 5 a further 270 families will be hit.

By Christmas, nearly 1,000 Oxford children are expected to be adversely affected by the “Household Benefit Cap”.

This is because the Government believes that no family on benefits should receive more than £20,000 a year in total – even though rents in Oxford mean that it is well nigh impossible for people with children to live here on that amount of money.

Local estate agents are currently advertising no three-bedroom properties in Oxford at less than £1,050 a month or £12,600 a year.

So families where the main breadwinner falls sick or is made redundant, for example, will have to cut back on food and other essentials simply to pay the rent.

Single people will also lose benefits. The cap for them is £13,400 a year.

I doubt if many of us could contemplate managing on that amount of money, including paying our rent.

We are moving towards a situation where Oxford becomes a city affordable only to the wealthy.

SUE TANNER

Sunningwell Road

Oxford