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Bedroom tax ruling opens floodgates for claimants

This news post is almost 9 years old
 

​A judge in England makes landmark bedroom tax ruling saying it has been wrongly charged

Another nail in the coffin of the controversial bedroom tax has been delivered after a tribunal in England decreed separated parents are being wrongly charged.

A child of parents living apart is ­entitled to a bedroom in each of their homes for visits, the Middlesburgh appeals tribunal ruled.

The decision was made in the case of a father who had 14% docked from his housing benefit.

The local authority decided the single man was under-occupying his two-bed semi. But he argued the extra room was used by his son under a deal by which the boy stays up to three nights a week with him.

The ruling is set to open the floodgates to claims by potentially thousands of claimants who have been wrongly charged and signals another blow to the Conservative government’s attempts to keep the bedroom tax afloat.

This shows the bedroom tax is cruel and unfair - Rachel Reeves

The hated tax is mitigated in Scotland via discretionary housing payments which offset any cost to claimants.

However, benefit claimants in England have been hit badly by the charge in a housing market that is already in crisis.

It means few homes are available for those forced to downsize because of the tax, pushing many unemployed and disabled claimants further into poverty.

Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith will appeal the ruling.

Bedroom tax campaigner Joe Halewood said: “This case opens the door for all separated parents with shared care arrangements whose children have two homes.”

And shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves added: “This shows the bedroom tax is cruel and unfair. Ministers should scrap it.”

 

Comments

0 0
dawn
almost 9 years ago
I'm a local authority foster carer paying bedroom tax for providing safe care for children is criminal surely
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bill cocks
almost 9 years ago
Reeves should shut her smug trap and poss of back to the City of London where the vile creep belongs.
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Rick
almost 9 years ago
So after explaining what happens in England &Scotland; did you just not bother to look at what happens in Wales, or just decide that the people of Wales are just not worthy of attention. Bedroom tax hits Wales hard because of levels of poverty &deprivation;.
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Lorraine
almost 9 years ago
Need it for my kids,gnkids,and friends who stay.and also I can't afford to pay.
0 0
Lorraine
almost 9 years ago
I have kids, that stay. unfortunately thay live with their father .so them staying is great for me, so I can spend time with them,and also my grankids and my friends
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Lorraine
almost 9 years ago
I have kids that live with their father unfortunately. I need to spend time with them so they need a bed when they stay,I Also need it for my gnkids and my friends.
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John hinds
almost 9 years ago
I am registered disabled and claim d l a I applied last year for a discretionary housing payment but o was turned down due to excess income the d l a is not taken into account rewarding any other benefits in fact you can be a multi millionaire and get d l a I think this is wrong also I can not move to a one bedroom property as there ain't any in my area so I'm trapped in this house any advice would be greatly appreciated
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eevee
almost 9 years ago
and what about us disabled tenants who have to have separate rooms from our partner ?? I have got the DHP once but it seems they are allowed to count DLA as income now..didnt that always used to be exempt ?
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James shepherd
almost 9 years ago
Hi,I am a single father,living in a three bedroom house,there is myself and my 15 year old son,living full time in the house,I have three other children that stay with me,ten days or so a month,I have 3 boys and one daughter,I have lived at the address for over ten years now,I rent the house from my local council,I recently found out that, I have been paying extra rent for a fourth bedroom,on contacting the council,I found out that I am getting charged room tax on my downstairs dinning room,after contacting the council again to dispute there response,I received emails and letters confirming that the house is infact a four bedroom home,I found my assignment of tenancy,and it states the house is a 3 bedroom house,I am currently in contact with the housing ombudsman,regarding this,I have no idea how long I have been paying extra room tax,for my dinning room,but the council are fighting me all the way,
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Terry Craven
almost 9 years ago
It appears this decision was given by a first tier tribunal. If that is the case it certainly won't open the floodgtes because it is not binding. Notwithstanding this, iIt gives false hope to those who are liable for the bedroom tax, which in my mind is unacceptable.
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Dean
almost 9 years ago
I am disabled on low income i have had my council property for 17 years had it fitted with disabled equipment i am affected by 25% i am prepared to down size to a property suitable to my needs but council have got no places so each day through out no fault of my own it is a life of pressure and doing my medical condition,s no good SCRAP THE Bedroom TAX it is very hard to be granted the discretionary housing payment.
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Mr Spock
almost 9 years ago
It's very unlikely to be scrapped. The charge was carefully sold by the government as gaining justice for the taxpayer and those forced into small properties. Changing course now would be an attack on those groups that they previously appeared to support and they would expose a government that already has a fragile majority to bad press and merciless heckling by the opposition. I think they'll plow on ahead regardless, saying that people who have been badly affected are no worse off than others who find themselves having to move because of financial changes in their lives and that DHP is available etc. Usually of course the kind of devastating changes that cost a person their home are authored by fate, not engineered by government...
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Hazel Jones
almost 8 years ago
I am a disabled woman who is being hit by this stupid bedroom tax, my home is a three bedroom semi and I live alone but my home has been catered for my disabilities yet am still meant to fight for the Discretionary payment, I was happy to downsize to a bungalow but was told as my home had been done out for my needs I only had a priority 4 which is ridiculous. I have been in this home for 28 years and I rent all of the house not just a part of it....stupid government want their hammers.
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