Charities decry CPI ploy to cut benefit bill

Anti-poverty charities said it would be “indefensible” for the chancellor to use last month’s drop in inflation last month to justify a smaller increase in working-age benefits, which would cut up to £2bn from the welfare bill. The Treasury is understood to be considering using October’s 4.6% CPI for the annual benefit uprating, instead of the usual September reading, which was 6.7%.