Communal charities and their clients are counting the cost of key measures announced by Chancellor George Osborne in Wednesday's Budget.
Welfare organisations with large staffs are concerned about finding the extra money to cover the new national living wage for over-25s, which replaces the current minimum wage of £6.50 an hour. It will rise to £7.20 from next April and to £9 from 2020.
Charedi leaders warn that many in their communities will be hit hard by the capping of benefits to families at £20,000 outside of London and £23,000 in the capital. Child tax credits will also be capped at two children from 2017.
A Jewish Care spokeswoman said the £7.20 living wage would affect around 15 per cent of the charity's 1,500 employees, rising to half its workforce when the £9 an hour minimum is introduced.
"We agree in principle with the national living wage, but the reality is that until local authorities pay the true cost of care, it puts an additional strain on social-care providers. This will inevitably require us to turn to the community for additional support, or we will be faced with having to make tough decisions about the future of some of our services."
Half the Jewish Care staff will be affected by wage change
The fear that local authority funding will not increase at the same rate as the living wage was also voiced by Norwood chief executive Elaine Kerr. "Norwood relies on the money we receive from local authorities to meet our staffing costs when delivering our services," she said.
"If the national minimum wage is increased but there is no corresponding rise in local authority funding, then the charity will find itself in a very challenging financial situation."
Merseyside Jewish Community Care president Howard Winik warned that "the rise in the minimum wage will inevitably increase the financial burden on charities. At a time when support from local authorities has virtually disappeared, this is particularly concerning. Organisations like ours will have to rely even more on the generosity of contributors."
Nightingale House chief executive Helen Simmons said it "already pays above the minimum wage and current UK living wage for all our staff.
"Any increase for lowest paid hard-working carers and domestic staff in the care industry is very welcome."
Liberal Judaism chief executive Rabbi Danny Rich considered the increase insufficient. "It falls well short of the national living wage, which Liberal Judaism guarantees for its own staff and which is necessary to enable people to live with dignity and self-respect."
Michelle Ciffer, manager of the Hershel Weiss Children's Centre in Salford, said that many of its Charedi clients were already struggling financially, so the cut in child tax credit would "affect the community greatly. They rely very heavily on child tax credits to help supplement their wages, so I think there are going to be some very serious problems. We are dealing with a lot of poverty here - the working poor, who are going to get poorer."
As for the £20,000 benefits cap, Nava Kestenbaum, director of the northern branch of Interlink - the umbrella organisation for strictly Orthodox charities - said "it will potentially have a massive impact, particularly because in-work benefits are heavily depended on. It will mean a reduction in their household income."
London Charedi leader Rabbi Abraham Pinter also feared the community would be "disproportionately" affected. "It is a big concern.
"Many in the Stamford Hill community who voted for a Conservative government did so because they felt they would uphold traditional family values. They feel very let down because this will disproportionately hit large families.
"This, combined with a reduction in housing benefits, will create more poverty."
