Bedroom tax will hit 30,000 Devon and Cornwall homes
The Government’s so-called “bedroom tax” will hit 30,000 poorer households in the region, it has been claimed.
The proposed Welfare Reform Bill has already been rejected by the House of Lords over a cap which would limit benefit payments to £26,000 a year.
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Analysis of official figures suggest that measure alone could push some 6,000 children in the region into poverty.
Now the National Housing Federation has said tens of thousands of households in the region judged to be living in homes that are too large will be hit by cuts of up to 25 per cent in housing benefit.
Jenny Allen, from the federation in the South West, said: “This bedroom tax has been a serious concern for quite some time. Penalising South West families for under-occupying when they have nowhere to move to is simply unfair and unjust.
“We are urging Ministers to accept the amendment and vote for it to stand. Otherwise there will be disastrous implications for huge numbers of people already struggling to make ends meet.”
Under the current proposals, tenants who are judged to be “under occupying” their home by one bedroom will have their housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent. Where they are under occupying by two or more bedrooms the deduction is 25 per cent.
Analysis by the federation, using average rent figures broken down by MPs’ constituencies, shows that could cost people with one extra bedroom more than £500 a year. In Devon that could be as high as £607 in Torbay and in Cornwall £521 in Truro and Falmouth.
The federation said people would be forced to choose between going into debt, cutting back on essentials, or trying to move. With so few smaller homes available, many will not even have that choice.
It said many people in a variety of situations – grandparents who share the care of their grandchildren, families with two same-sex teenagers with their own bedrooms, and disabled tenants who need an adapted room to live an independent life – would will see their incomes cut if the bill passed unamended.
St Ives Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George said he would be voting against the coalition on the “bedroom tax”.
“I just feel that the pressures will result in many families being disrupted from what was a previously stable situation,” Mr George said last night.
“Hard-working families on low incomes will be penalised because of a poorly regulated and poorly managed housing system.
“There has been a complete failure by successive governments to build enough three and four-bedroom houses for families who find themselves in overcrowded accommodation.
“It is also not the fault of those who find themselves with a spare room who should have to pay the price for other peoples’ past failures.”
In December, members of the House of Lords opposed the Government, backing a cross-party amendment to exempt those families with one additional bedroom where there are no alternative properties for them to downsize to. It was one of seven welfare reform defeats for the Government in the Lords after peers went through the Government’s plan line by line.
The most prominent showdowns came over the Government’s £26,000-a-year benefits cap and plans to charge parents to access the Child Support Agency. A bishops’ amendment, backed by Labour peers, seeks to take child benefit out of the cap.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “We have been very clear where we stand. The Lords’ amendments will be overturned when the Bill comes back to the Commons.”
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by josdave
Thursday, February 02 2012, 7:12PM
“The £26,000 cap will only affect those in London where the rents etc are much higher. Anyone down here who can't manage on that sum is living way beyond their needs. I would love to have been earning £26,000 before I retired. In fact I had just over half that and I managed to pay all my bills without whinging.”
by Buccy
Thursday, February 02 2012, 6:52PM
“Just stop paying these crazy housing benefit bills.
The ones that make the most out of housing benefit are the rich owners of properties in London.
Bring back the old rent acts, control rents, result, problem solved.
Simple.”
by BettyD
Thursday, February 02 2012, 2:36PM
“Well I can tell you that if you worked for a local business man at his store here or anywhere else in the country his workers only get minimum wage WHICH even working full time is NOTHING anywhere near £26,000, if those to idle to go to work can't manage on a lot more than those who do then it's a pretty poor show..........I suggest THEY go out into the real world and get a job maybe then they won't feel so hard done by..............bloody scroungers and THAT is directed to those who play the system who have NEVER worked a day in their lifes and don't have any intention of and claim everything penny thats going for whatever reason.........it does NOT apply to those who are GENUINELY out of work and wanting to work or GENUINELY on disability benefits”
by trudie2010
Thursday, February 02 2012, 12:21PM
“Tessa43, good luck with the interviews. I asked the PCH if we could have a decent person put in the one bedroomed flat next door to me,(after years of criminals, druggies and an alcoholic all causing a problem) because the area is mainly disabled and elderly residents, and I was told that the problem was no-one was asking for one bedroomed properties, so your son and daughter-in-law should have no problem getting a flat from PCH”
by timplymouth
Thursday, February 02 2012, 11:51AM
“@nothalf £26,000 is the average income after tax”
by Tessa43
Thursday, February 02 2012, 11:41AM
“I am on benefits at the moment and rent included I have no idea where £26,000 comes into it. We don't get that. Anyway that is by the by. I think you should put a cap on the rents the private landlords charge anyway, they are just greedy. It is about time the government did this with the bedroom tax, I am in full agreement with it. I know a lot of people living in 3 bedroom properties and they live on their own, it is also paid for by housing benefit, so where is the justice in that? I live in a 2 bedroom with my son, and right now I have my daughter and son-in-law living in my livingroom as they are homeless, so hopefully they may get somewhere to live soon. I wish I did have £26,000 still we live in hope. Job interview soon and hubby got one today wish us luck. xx”
by jimjamjonny
Thursday, February 02 2012, 11:27AM
“There are 10 times more 1 bedroomed properties on the Devon home choice list than 3 bedroomed, this will give the people living in 3 bedroomed houses who's children have left home, the incentive to move to a smaller dwelling. This will also help families who are living in cramped conditions get houses. I think this is a great move by the Conservative government to free up under used property. These homes were meant for occupation of families.”
by nothalf
Thursday, February 02 2012, 10:49AM
“@tim, if poverty is calculated at 30% less than the average income-which is £26,000 then everyone on the average icome or less is in poverty once tax & Ni are deducted”
by puffing_billy
Thursday, February 02 2012, 10:25AM
“Why not target the profligate Private Landlords who are charging whatever they can get away with, because Housing Benefit (us taxpayers) will pay it. Cap the amount of rent that can be charged and the overall figure WILL come down. How anyone cannot live a "normal"life on £26K pa is beyond me and many others.”
by beowulfonline
Thursday, February 02 2012, 10:20AM
“£26,000 per year is peanuts in London, mostly eaten up by rent. I suspect that the main purpose for this is the gentrification of central London.”