CHURCH leaders have attacked a new benefits cap which charities warn will hit vulnerable families, the homeless and 10,000 Scottish children.

The Church of Scotland attacked the £500-a-week limit, rolled out across the UK yesterday, saying it was based on the misguided assumption all claimants are "shirkers or skivers".

However, the cap's architect, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, insisted it was necessary to make sure taxpayers did not fund lifestyles they could not themselves afford.

The row came as a new report warned one in three places in the UK, including Aberdeen, are effectively off-limits to many families.

A couple with one child and an income of £22,000 a year would find it unaffordable to try to rent a home there, the Resolution Foundation warned.

Around 40,000 households across the UK, including more than 4000 in Scotland, will be affected by the new benefits limit.

Couples and lone parents will be limited to £500 a week, with single people limited to £350 a week. There is an exemption for those in work.

Citizens Advice Scotland estimated that the cap would affect 4600 Scottish households and up to 10,000 children.

Over half of those affected would lose at least £50 per week, it calculated, while more than one-quarter will lose at least £100, a total of more than £5000 per year.

Chief executive Margaret Lynch said the cap came on top of a number of other benefit cuts and was "the latest blow to hit hard-pressed families in Scotland".

She warned most of those affected would be in areas where rents were higher.

However, she added: "That does not mean they are well-off. It could mean they struggle even more than most to make ends meet. We estimate that 1300 families will be at least £5000 worse off per year as a result of this cap. That's a huge amount to lose if you are on a low income."

She predicted that those affected would in practice have three choices – "cut back on rent, food or fuel".

That view was echoed by Shelter Scotland, which said those most affected by the cap would be the homeless and vulnerable families affected by high rents.

The Church of Scotland denounced the cap as ill-conceived and unworkable.

Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, convener of its Church and Society Council, attacked what she said was a "misguided, misinformed and cynical assumption that those on benefits are shirkers or skivers".

She added: "It is hugely unfair. The cap doesn't take into account the varying cost of living across the country, nor does it account for difficulties encountered in finding work."

However, Mr Duncan Smith said there were jobs available for those who wanted to go back to work.

He said: "Every week something like half a million new jobs are in the Jobcentres and out in the universal job match that we have now produced."

"The key principle behind this all over the country is that those who work, those who are trying to do the best in their households, do not see others who are down the road, who are on benefits, on welfare, actually getting more than they do.

The cap was also defended by tax campaigners.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said the new limit was fair to both the taxpayers picking up the bill and those in receipt of welfare.

He added: "The people funding the benefits system through their taxes should never find themselves subsidising a lifestyle for others which they cannot afford for their own families."

Labour described the cap as a good idea in principle that had already fallen apart in practice.