A Government trial to impose a limit on the amount of benefits a household can receive is beginning to be rolled out.
Couples and single parents in the London boroughs of Croydon, Bromley, Haringey and Enfield will now be able to claim no more than £500 a week and £350 a week respectively.
However, the TUC has accused Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith of misrepresenting Government statistics to claim that the £26,000 benefits cap was driving people to find work.
Last week the Government claimed the number of people expected to be hit by the cap had fallen from 56,000 to 40,000, with 8,000 claimants finding work through Jobcentre Plus.
Mr Duncan Smith is accused of misusing official figures by Frances O'Grady Mr Duncan Smith hailed the figures, saying the cap had provided a "strong incentive" for people to look for jobs, even before it had started to affect their incomes.
"We have a very clear message: we will provide support to those who need it, but the days of outrageous claims giving people incomes far above those of working families are over," he said.
But TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said it was "wrong" for Mr Duncan Smith to claim the benefits cap had spurred people into finding jobs.
"The Government's own analysts say that 16,000 fewer people will be affected because ministers have changed the rules about who is eligible, not because of any change in behaviour," she said.
Ministers claim 8,000 claimants have found work through JobCentre Plus "The Department for Work and Pensions is a serial offender for misusing statistics. Perhaps ministers should be subject to a three-strikes-and-you're-out rule.
"If you need to make the supporting evidence up, then you must have a pretty weak argument.
"It is essential that the UK Statistics Authority investigates Mr Duncan Smith's use of official figures."
Jonathan Portes of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a former chief economist at the Department for Work and Pensions, said there was "no evidence at all" that the cap had affected people's behaviour.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "Jobcentre Plus data clearly shows that 8,000 people who would have been affected by the benefit cap have moved into work and 25,000 are accepting help to get a job.
"We have followed the correct procedures for publishing this data and it is available for anyone to study. Claims to the contrary are utterly unfounded."
The cap is being brought in to cut spending and to bring benefits payments into line with average income.
The policy is expected to come into force nationally by the end of September.
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