Hundreds of families in Gravesham have had their benefits capped over the last five years, new figures show.

The vast majority of households affected include young children, with charities warning that the cuts risk leaving families homeless or hauling them below the poverty line.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that between the introduction of the cap in April 2013 and February this year, 288 families had their housing benefits docked in Gravesham.

Couples with children are limited to an annual income from all benefits of £20,000, or £385 a week. In London, the cap is higher, at £23,000.

There are lower rates for single parents and households without children.

Over the last five years, 23 households in Gravesham were docked more than £100 a week.

The majority of capped claimants, 72%, were single parents with children.

Couples with children accounted for a further 28% of cases.

"Every child deserves the best start in life." - Esther McVey, works and pensions secretary.

The chief executive of Shelter, Polly Neate, said: “At Shelter we hear every day from families who have been hauled below the poverty line by the cap on housing benefit, with many struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

“The cap is a cruel and ineffective way of achieving what the government claims is their aim of getting people into work, and doesn’t account for the wildly varying rent levels across the country. We continue to call on the government to urgently lift the cap before even more families are put at risk of homelessness.

“But we must also see urgent action to build many more genuinely affordable homes for rent, so ordinary families can enjoy a secure future with a safe and permanent place to live.”

With the unemployment rate at 4.2%, its lowest level since 1975, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, said the policy is working.

She said: “Every child deserves the best start in life.

“And we know that children living in a household with someone in work do better in school, have better educational attainment and are more likely to have a job later in life than children growing up in a home where no one works.

“In the past there could have been families living in cycles of worklessness without the proper support or incentives to move into work with the security and peace of mind that comes from a regular wage.”