Ministers have pledged to give councils access to a transition fund to help families hit by plans to impose a £26,000 annual benefits cap by April 2013.

Welfare minister Chris Grayling has told MPs that councils could use the discretionary fund – fixed at £80m for 2013/14 and £50m in 2014/15 - to support households through 'critical life events', such as a child examinations. Mr Grayling also confirmed families would be given a nine-month exemption where a main-earner is made unemployed through no fault of their own.