The coalition government is introducing a ‘size criteria’ for Housing Benefit claimants who live in Council or Housing Association homes. Working age tenants will be penalise for having ‘too many’ bedrooms, by losing 14% of their HB (estimated at an average of £12) if they have one bedroom ‘too many’, or 25% (£22) if they have two or more ‘too many’.
This scandalous measure will not come into action until April of 2013. This gives us some time to campaign for it to be dropped. Swindon Tenants Campaign Group has produced a Briefing explaining the changes and calling on tenants and others to press the Council and our local MPs to call on the government to abandon these changes. Download the briefing here: housingnews
Swindon Tenants Campaign Group 
This really worries me as although I work and pay full rent – I do live on my own in a 3 bedroomed house. I have made many improvements over the years to this property and the thought of being kicked out to a one bedroomed flat to an area where I do not want to be and know no-one when I reach retiring age (not too faraaway !!) makes me very anxious and worried.
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This is what has happened to me. And although I have worked and paid my way for most of the time now being redundant I am faced with the bedroom tax.
Trying to leave my home to downsize a home I have looked after and spent money on. At 60 I cannot find another job but classed as too young to retire.
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Carol it will not affect you at all as you Work and Pay Full Rent it is Targeted at all that do not work”They want them to £12 for one room £22 for a two bed,also a Ten percent Surcharge on their council tax ,,So that one who £70 a week will have to £42 out of their Job seekers or £52..So you have no worries its only affecting Non Workers”Pensioners and Special needs People will be okay”You can read up on it on the Government Website,Hope this puts your Mind at Rest .
Tricia Neville’
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Tricia, lets not forget that just because someone has a job at the moment, does not mean that they will have one tomorrow, given the work sector today. So this tax will affect EVERYONE in local authority housing at some point
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Tricia, I raised this issue at our local PACT meeting with a local councillor who is the portfolio holder for housing and he told me quite categorically that if you work and pay full rent and are ‘under occupied’ then you will attract a surcharge equal to the amount your housing benefit would be reduced if you were out of work or on low pay and receiving housing benefit.
This draconian legislation is not aimed at the unemployed, as government would have you believe; it is aimed at the working class and more specifically those in social housing.
The government would like you to believe it is aimed solely at the unemployed because it is easy to make the case for penalising the ‘scroungers’. I find it just as easy to make the case for penalising the idle rich who are the biggest under-occupiers.
I discuss this at great length here:
http://www.thisistamworth.co.uk/REALITIES-BEDROOM-TAX/story-16314297-detail/story.html
here:
https://smilingcarcass.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/the-realities-of-the-bedroom-tax/
and here:
https://tamworthuk.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/the-realities-of-the-bedroom-tax/
We need to be getting friends, relatives and neighbours online, commenting and showing the strength and depth of feeling if there is to be any hope of a government rethink.
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No, it’s not only affecting ‘non-workers’ – its also penalising people working for a low wage, who need some help with their rent from HB! All housing benefit claimants who are under-occupying will have 14% of their benefit deducted.
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I agree, Pammy; but the main thing we need before any action is organisation on a national scale, with petitions, letters to MP’s, letters to the PM and demonstrations because this is national legislation, not individual councils taking action.
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In addition, Pammy I have questioned my local housing portfolio holder on these new draconian laws at length and he has told me that working under-occupiers paying FULL rent will have a surcharge equal to the benefits they would have lost were they claiming said benefits.
It seems to me that this surcharge can only be for council tenants, possibly housing association tenants because I cannot see how it could be applied to a private landlord, though I would not rule it out!
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Really? I wasn’t aware of this! When will this come into law then? Most councils (including mine) haven’t even started sending letters out yet informing HB claimants of the change, if under occupying, so I wonder how long it will take them to inform ALL tenants of this?
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Pammy, this will become law in April of 2013. It is part of the legislation the government would want kept, shall we say unannounced? The government is trying, in part, to sell this legislation on cutting the benefits bill and frankly ‘hammering the scroungers’; they wouldn’t want us to know you don’t have to be on benefits to be affected.
Admittedly, I have not found reference to this surcharge anywhere else, but it was the answer I got from a councillor who should know as the housing portfolio holder to a direct question “so a working tenant paying full rent will possibly pay more than his neighbour in identical accommodation [purely on the basis they are under-occupied]?”. (The wording of the question might have been slightly different, but that is the question I asked.)
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Well, you can’t be kicked out Carol, and, of course, pensioners are unaffected by these changes. That was a political decision by the government because they knew there would be a furore over pensioners being financially pressured out of their homes. Of course, the rich boys have no idea how a big section of the population live. I think that those of us who aren’t affected by this have a responsibility to oppose this and support those tenants who are being penalised for having ‘too many’ bedrooms.
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Marcus is right. It is the thin end of the wedge. Before long, pensioners, the disabled- anybody who cannot or does not wish to buy their homes will be affected once the principle is accepted.
The wording in my document from Tamworth Borough Council is very ambiguous; while it does specifically exclude certain vulnerable groups such as pensioners from the benefit cap, it does not specifically exclude them from the ‘Bedroom Tax’.
I’d argue for a real bedroom tax, those below a certain income exempt, those under-occupying country estates and six bed roomed houses paying more for the privilege
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I am a pensioner and I have had a reduction in housing benefit and will need to find 22 Pounds a month from my state pension to fill the shortfall. I have written to Wiltshire Council to appeal. We shall see!!!
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This is wrong. Setting the ‘Haves’ against the ‘Havenots’ is divisive and undemocratic. The bedroom tax will do nothing to alleviate the problems relating to lack of social housing. Just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic and setting communities against each other.
I am not personalty affected but fully support those who are. This is the thin end of a very large wedge. Divide and rule seems to be government policy, authoritarian local authorities are not much better. I am not politically motivated but will use my vote to register my disgust, locally and nationally.
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What about people like me! I have a disabled child who has Cerebral Palsy, who is full time care day & night! he is 12 and my other son 11 they don’t share due to my son’s issues ..it seems unfair that my son could be forced to share!! his room is like a hospital room,.. so how will it work for me & my son’s?? ..
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I would hope that you would get some dispensation Julie. It would be ridiculous if you were financially penalised. As soon as we get the guidance which is due in May, I’ll have a look at it and get back to you. If you like I will put you on our email list. Email me on stcg@btinternet.com
In the meantime I would suggest you raise the issue with your local MP.
Martin Wicks
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It is worthy of note that the people introducing this unfair legislation are politicians who have two homes, one provided by the state many of whom are multi-millionaires who probably have a third or even fourth home. It stinks.
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Yes – why aren’t these millionaires being hit with the bedroom tax for all their spare rooms/? Their houses are ‘tax-funded’ – so what’s the difference!
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If they think for one minute after all the time and money I have spent doing my girls rooms up for them that I,m going plonk a hormonal 13yr old girl in with her soon to be hormonal sister then camron you total prat you can come live with them.this will bomb like the poll tax.
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I do not think it will happen. Just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. Does nothing to increase the housing stock. Will encourage further pregnancies, be difficult and expensive to police and add further division in our society. When a country suffers a depression dictators/politicians need a scape goat to blame. Ethnic minorities, the elderly, the unemployed, the sick, etc. The coalition seem to have chosen council tenants.
History shows that it always ends in tears.
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“I do not think it will happen”; I think it will. No party, Conservative, Liberal Democrat or Labour has dared attack the NHS, the armed forces, state education or free education the way this coalition government has and is continuing to. Now they have decided social housing will be their target while bankers continue with their nefarious deals, with our money and seem to break the rules and the law with impunity.
“Does nothing to increase the housing stock.” Make no mistake, this is a continuing attack in the working class; it is not designed to increase the housing stock, but to offload council housing by the back door, to increase rents without the benefit of tribunals or due process and to make the working class fearful for their jobs, their benefits, their health and now their homes.
“Will encourage further pregnancies, be difficult and expensive to police and add further division in our society” the government is already planning caps on benefits for families with ‘too many children’; the government care little for the cost of demoralising and controlling the workers. We will pay for our own demise by increased taxes that hit the poorest hardest; the government wants division in society- it makes us easier to control.
“The coalition seem to have chosen council tenants.” It is not only council tenants; private tenants will also see their benefits cut if the government decides that they are ‘under occupied’. And yet, I will say again, the biggest under-occupiers in the land are exempt from this ‘tax’; the landed gentry, the bankers etc. who live in country houses with multiple bedrooms and often have more than one home.
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Well, you could be right, on the other hand the politicians might just loose control. People power generally wins in the long game, but it has to get worse before it gets better.
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Marcus, I hope I am wrong; I hope people power, as you put it sends these bums packing. But what is the alternative? More of the same from a Labour Party that has lost its way; a coalition of minority parties and independents?
I would prefer to see the Monster Raving Loony Party win a majority in the commons, just to show politicians they have become unacceptable, self-serving sycophants.
But remember, Cameron introduced the 5 year parliament that can no longer be dissolved by the monarch and does not require Royal assent to dissolve itself; he is currently attempting to change the electoral districts/boundaries to improve the chances of a Tory government being re-elected. This is an erosion of democracy and an attempt to make our votes less effective. The divide and conquer tactics are aiding Cameron in his aims.
But I do see hope; some of the forums I comment on (and my views and politics are very left wing) I had become used to being pilloried for my opinion. I am seeing a change in people’s views in that folk on my local papers (Tamworth Herald http://www.thisistamworth.co.uk/discussions) forum beginning to agree with mine. The message must be put out and these forums are where we can do it.
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why dont cameron and his army down size and get a normal mans wage insted of the thousands they dont deserve what with changin the pension age. bedroom tax what next a toilet tax people i know are worrif how. to live now. what wilj we do when we have to pay extra for having spare rooms. how does cameron sleep at night does he not know what he is doing to the countery
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This vile little man knows exactly what he’s doing! Getting rid of council houses! The Tories HATE us people who live in Social Housing – that’s why they’re pretending the bedroom tax is to free up homes with spare bedrooms for council tenants – while on the other hand handing out massive discounts for under occupiers to BUY the few decent council homes we do have!
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Summed up admirably, Pammy.
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Can you help me. I have lived in this house, which is my home, for 16 years. I have always paid my rent and had my house fully occupied until 2009 when my family left home. Then in 2011 I was made redundant and since then had to claim benefits. I am almost sixty and trying as hard as I can I cannot get a job and find age discrimination a real factor. I have lost my car through this and although I have often thought about a lodger the way things are set up I would loose the little I receive in benefits. I feel safe here, I can walk to shops, I can walk to my son’s home if I needed to. I know the people here and my neighbours and I have spent money in the past on my house to make it a home. Because this pension age has now changed I find myself in no mans land. Too old to be employed but too young to be safeguarded from the bedroom tax and being classed as an OAP. On £71.00 per week to survive on and pay my bills how can I produce the extra finances to live in a house I have throughout paid my way as a working member of society. This has to be one of the most unjust laws every created and I would like to think the court of human rights would agree. New tenants bring in the law but not those who are at the lowest and no means to stand up for themselves.
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Simone, though I do not live in your area, I am making my feelings known and highlighting the faults and injustice of this new legislation; there is very little you will be able to do if this legislation is (and probably will be) passed.
I am 55 years of age and though I have two grown up children living with me in a 3 bedroomed council house, if one of them leaves (and they are likely to at any time both being in their early 20’s) I will be subject to the same unfair treatment; I currently receive £1.95(!) housing benefit, which I would lose (I work in a very low paid job with varying hours- sometimes as low as 16 or 20 a week) but what people do not seem to be grasping, and I have had this confirmed by answer to a direct question asked of our Housing Portfolio holder at Tamworth Borough Council that even working people who do not receive housing benefit will be expected to pay more if they are under occupied, equivalent to the amount of benefit they would lose if they were claiming housing benefit.
This is nothing more or less than another attack on the poor by the rich. Bear in mind, these people who are introducing this are probably the biggest under occupiers in the country! But because they are wealthy, that’s ok. Being poor will mean becoming itinerant, moved on by councils every time your housing needs change. Much as gypsies and other travellers are forced to uproot and move.
It has to be fought and there needs to be a national movement to fight. I only wish I had the organisational skills to do so.
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A good human rights lawyer maybe of benefit to us all as this bedroom tax specifically targets the older out of work or low paid person because common sense tells you younger unemployed etc. more often than not still have their families living with them. I really believe that unless the person who dreamed this up lacked any sort of intelligence, in which case they should not have had the job in first place, it was known precisely the sector of society that would be affected. Vulnerable people who more often than not feel powerless in the situation they are already in. Could you imagine the uproar if a detrimental law was introduced by the government aimed solely at an ethnic minority or people with a particular colour of skin. As you will appreciate more often than not the unemployed are treated like second class citizens by the powers that be. This law I feel goes one step further, it treats you as sub-human totally dismissing the fact you are a person with feelings and a house is more than a house it is your home. I have been told by the council to put myself on the housing exchange list to find a smaller property now as they are rare or I will have to pay the tax beginning next April. I don’t want to be forced out of my home and it is feels awful to even attempt to begin looking. But I wonder what will happen to anyone who cannot find a smaller property and cannot find the extra money. Are we all to be evicted or prosecuted? The courts will be even busier and cost the councils and council tax payers even more money. To be honest I find this country’s values very hypocritical in the fact that we will do anything and everything to readdress injustice around the world but ignore any injustice levelled towards our own people. The media encouraged a hate campaign against those on benefits, classing the majority as scroungers and the public not on benefits adopted that opinion. They should try it, they’d soon change their minds. The government (all parties) then jumped on the band wagon purely seeking self preservation and popularity to meet their own ends. In my humble opinion a country’s ethics should be to encourage, empower and care for its own people first. In doing this we then have a reasonable platform to advise, possibly preach, (not my choice) how any other country should behave.
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Simone, this legislation has two aims; first, to cut the benefits bill through backdoor rent and council tax increases- which is what, effectively it is; second, to empty council accommodation so that it can be off-loaded by the back door, governments and councils having failed to convince us to move to housing associations.
You may be right that a good human rights lawyer might successfully challenge this legislation. We will all become victims of a despotic government hiding behind democracy.
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Lets all try and find a good lawyer I’m sure someone somewhere hears what is obvious to all of us. Make this a priority for anyone who visits this site.
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We need MASS NON-PAYMENT! It worked with the vile ‘Poll Tax’ which was then abolished!
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Otherwise we are all defeated before we begin. People know people who know people who know people.
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It is not only Council tenants affected by these draconian measurIes. It is every one that rents property. I could not find any suitable accommodation within the Housing Association where I live and had no option but to rent from a Private Landlord. My family, bless them have footed the bill for the difference in rent which is quite substantial.
My housing benefit has now been reduced by 25 Pounds per month and I have to find that shortfall from my state pension (impossible) l I don’t have a penny left over at the end of each month. The only place I can find that extra 25 Pounds is from my grocery bill. I shall have to eat less . Oh well I guess at 74 I am not expected to eat much according to this miserable government! I don’t think there is a single Minister who has to reduce his food bill to subsidise his/her housing. They are a bunch of fat cats totally out of touch with the realities of today’s cost of living.
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you think thats bad after paying most of my bills myself and my partner have only £20 per fortnight to by food
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Valerie my MP told me that all private renting has been under these rules for a long time and that is why they are bringing social renting into line. I was led to believe that all pensioners were exempt. My heart goes out to you, at 74 you should not be going through this. Did you leave your previous house because of this impending bedroom tax? Let me know. I have every intention of lobbying my MP until he hears what I have to say.
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Simone, either your MP is a liar or seriously misguided or the housing portfolio holder for Tamworth Borough Council because he categorically told me this NEW legislation will affect council, housing association and private tenants alike, so I see little point in that statement if your MP’s defence is ‘we’re bringing social renting into line’; as far as I am aware current housing benefit legislation applies to ALL tenants; if you can’t afford your rent, we’ll help.
I believe your MP is misleading you to make you feel a little better about it.
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This has been in place for Private Rents since April 2011 – it is just starting for social housing tenants in April 2012
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… Sorry – I meant from April 2013….
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I tend to agree with Smiling Carcass. The letter advising me of this reduction states “…this is because the government is reducing the rates at which we pay housing benefit to tenants renting from a landlord in the private sector.”
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Yes, this ‘cap’ in PR has been in place for sometime. People in social housing (from April) with 2 spare rooms will have to find 25.00 extra PER WEEK!
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i currently occupy a three bed council house which until recently was fully occupied by my 3 children who have now left home, i have lived in this house for 13 years once a single parent supported by benefits, i wanted to show my children that with hard work and some sacrifice you could drag urself out of the benefit system so with young children in tow i did my nurse training and have worked and supported myself and my children as a full time staff nurse since 2002 excactly what this awful government says we should be doing i pay full rent and council tax but time and time again i am penilised by this governments cuts, my wage has been frozen and pension messed about with and now this ludicrous bedroom tax i was never in a positon although i would have loved to, to obtain a mortgage and buy my own property so i have always lived in council property and now at 44 i am probably in a position to be able to pay a mortgage i am too old so unfortunately i will always have to live in a coucil property i have means to improve my home but now i live in fear that i will spend my hard earned money then be told that i can no longer live in this property as it is underoccupied. I did not vote for this government and this government was not elected by a majority of voters but oh my god how it is making the ordinary hard working folk of this country suffer, i am not well off but i work dam hard for every penny i work 7 days a week just to afford a holiday. This government is made up of millionaires who have not the first inkling of how ordinary people live and work in this country we r all in this together i dont think so mr cameron how many of your cuts and policies and bedroom taxes will affect you your wife and children and your collegues families and your mates the big fat banker with their big fat bonuses why dont you look at taxing that before bloody bedrooms you all will still live in the lap of luxury in your mansions and your expensive cars and holidays and fees for the private education for your children while the rest of us can whistle dixie just to put a roof over our heads and food on the table thats when youve dictated to us how many children were allowed to have and how many bedrooms we can have and you have the nerve to criticise china and coutries like that take a look at yourself chairman cameron your not far off the mark
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You have done it again. You are penalizing a majority for the minority that can not work.(WONT WORK) (what ever). Who on earth do you think you are we can barley afford to live now if it were not for the working class there would be no higher class. Over the 40 years i have been living in this three bedroomed house i have brought up three great children i now have seven grandchildren. My children have been working since leaving school they also find it hard because of the rise in the economy. So that is more people who will be penalized for working and paying there taxes as well as all other people in the same category. Allot of people do not choose to be on benefits they have no options when the work is not there. This country is in a mess because of the incompetence of the government party now and before. My husband and i are on pension credit i will be made eligible for two bedrooms witch will take us well below what the LAW states you should have to live on. ( Or is that going out of the window too) You are just creating more and more poverty . When does the food chits start ? . Because that is what it will come to next . !!!!
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Ivy pensioners are not affected by the ‘bedroom tax’.
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But it does show the fear that is being spread through these laws; many people are afraid they will be hit; many of them are right. Some are misinformed, but we are all worried.
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Yes there is a lot of fear. All the more reason to make sure that we provide accurate information so that everybody knows where they stand.
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Martin, here’s fact. Suppose a pensioner has neighbours either side whose children have grown up and left them under occupied; these neighbours are decent people, lived there for 20 years and are part of the pensioners support network. They cannot afford to pay any more, and the council re-houses them (we’ll assume alternative ’suitable’ accommodation is available). The pensioner’s new neighbours have no interest in her welfare- they don’t know her and don’t wish to. Do you still maintain it will not affect pensioners?
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Pensioners won’t have to pay the tax. It’s important they know that isn’t it? We still want those who will not have to pay it to campaign against it – I’m not affected myself. There’s no sense in making people worry unecessarily. People are really fearful. But we have to put out correct info. Look at the question of your Tory Councillor and what he told you about a ‘surcharge’ on people who will not be directly affected because they don’t receive HB. Swindon Council estimates that 1,300 are ‘under-occupying’ out of over 10,000 tenants. That’s because only working age tenants in receipt of HB are affected. Why don’t you put in a Freedom of Information request to your Council asking who will be affected, and whether or not they are considering a ‘surcharge’ of people not in receipt of HB? They have to give you a reply within 28 days. I reckon such a thing would be illegal.
never underestimate the stupidity of Tory Councillors. I gathr than a government Minister Danny Alexander has actually put down on paper, in response to one of his constituents, that only people in the private sector will be affected!
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Yes, Martin it is important they know that; it is equally important they realise other ways it might affect them. And in my view it is important we show a united front and not have groups thinking they won’t be affected when indirectly, they will.
The Tory councillor who told me that there would be a surcharge for those paying full rent and under occupied under the new legislation is a qualified barrister; I doubt he would make such a wild statement without some inside information.
As for the freedom of information request, do you know how difficult this is to achieve? The detail required? And if I asked for freedom of information every time I wanted to know something, it would cost a fortune and then why do I pay my taxes and why would I need a councillor to ask? No, this councillor made the statement at a meeting, in front of witnesses and without information to the contrary, I will go with it.
As for its legality, all it needs is a change in the law- such as a Welfare Reform Bill and there you go- it’s law.
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i would just like to comment on bedroom tax we must not let them do this its a unfair tax on the poor as always .they shout about the welfare bill being to much ok but 3 billion a year is paid from this country to eu stop that money going abroad and we could manage because if we the people working or not they will bring another tax in maybe for people who have gardens this will bring poverty to the poor who are already poor who cannot afford to heat there homes now so what i say to people fight this appeal every decision they make you have the right to do this phone your mp and tel them we dont want it and if they do tel them they dont get your vote also if we vote to get out of the eu we will still trade world wide as always and it will create work for our young people anyhow tel the mp no we dont want this tax and if they do then they should give there expenses up and be like me if i got a job i would pay my expenses to work and buy my own lunch i dont think they should get this why should we the poor loose out and they dont?
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I have gardens front and back. Came with my council house and some council houses are extremely generous with their garden space. In kent my back garden would have housed two properties at least by today’s standards. You cannot judge income etc by size of garden.
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well said paul .
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well said
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Thank you Paul and Marsia
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am disgusted i have lived in my 2 bed house for 18 years always worked get some housing benefit because im on a low wage even though i have 4 grandchildren who stay with me regular i will be taxed on this extra bedroom its not right i feel im being forced out of my home
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Same here Janet! Ive been a tenant for more than 30 years, brought up my kids, now have grandchildren that stay with me regularly, to help my daughter out while she works. What will happen now I have to give up my little 2 bed house? I won’t be able to look after the children in a 1 bed flat, my daughter will have to give up work, and claim benefit! I thought this government was all about getting people OFF benefit, not encouraging it!
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/antibedroomtax/ feel free to join us on our FB group over a 1,000 members in just over 2 weeks
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Yes, Please all join this group! We are all fighting this unfair, unjust, tax on the poor!
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Im currently unemployed and live ina 3 bed. I have searched high and low for a swap to a one bed, and there is none, Why should i be penalised? it makes no sense.
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Even worse Brenda the government admitted that there was a mismatch between the size of homes available and the numbers of people who ‘need’ to downsize, according to their stupid ‘bedroom standard’. Now, if you earned £150,000 a year, you’d soon be getting a tax cut!
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My H/A have no one beds for anyone in my town the very few they have are occupied and also even them few have a massive waiting list of homeless people waiting for one , most are actually on pensioners over 60s flats or complex ..the government may as well tax us on fresh air ! cos the so called “Incentive” isnt an incentive at all , Government are well aware we cant downsize .. its just an oppressive tax on the poor in order to pay off the deficit caused by the rich !
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There is a petition here-
The numbers are slowly growing. go over and sign
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Paul_Higgins/?caWNWbb
Also join the FB page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/antibedroomtax
Post links on FB, Twitter, email to friends etc. Numbers, not stories are what will grab the governments attention initially.
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I have been informed that this is taking effect, and the staff have all had training for when it does.
How much more do these polititians expect the working man/woman to take before we snap?
This country is becoming a joke. It used to be Great Britain, now its becoming an oppressive nation.
Can’t smoke, can’t drink, can’t have freedom of choice!
I for one, just want to get off this ride, its not fun anymore
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Perspective – if you have to rent privately you only get housing benefit for the amount of bedrooms you need , why should it be different for social housing tenants? Single working mum one child at school and one away at uni need a 3 bed house but can only claim housing benefit for a two bed as rent privately., its not fair the way it is now and needs changing!
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Turn it round the other way Julie. Private rented HB wasn’t generous enough. ‘Need’ is an elastic concept. The ‘bedroom standard’ is ridiculous. Couples only qualify for one bed. That’s absurd. If you put a young couple into a one bed property, as soon as they have a kid, they have to move to a two bed …. etc Tenants would be in and out of different houses like a fiddlers elbow. The biggest problem with private rented accommodation is that there is no control on rent levels, which are increasingly higher than many people can afford.
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Surely then we should be asking for private tenants to be treated fairly and in line with social housing tenants, not the other way around.
I am of the opinion that something as basic and important as shelter should not be left to the tender mercies of private landlords.
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i work part timeand live i have a son on esa and dla and a daughter who is 19 in uni, i live in a 3 bed house and get help towards my rent, will this effect my benefit because i read if i have a child in further education under 21 it will not effect me .? hope u can clear this up for me as i only work part time and only just manage to feed hand to mouth..!!!
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Joanne – you will be ok, as your children are over the age to share and are of different sex.
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I have received a letter today to say that I will have to pay £31 per week because I have 2 ‘spare’ bedrooms. This has been my family home for 11 years where I have brought up my two children, I phoned the councils help line today to say that I have become ill with a serious bout of deppression due to the stress caused. He said that they could only help me budget my money and called an ambulance to my house because he thought I might ‘do something to myself’!! Even he couldn’t work out how I could afford to pay the bedroom tax.
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/antibedroomtax/
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So a man or woman rents 4 bedroom private property of say 600 per month no bedroom tax to pay but rent a social house of 400 per month slammed with the bedroom tax so this is saving money more like rich Tories making a wad of money. and social cleansing
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I have today been contacted by my local council asking if i want to go on the list to downsize this is where the council will give you a cash sum to move ,I downsized from a 3 bedroom property to a two bedroom 4 years ago they told me I could keep a spare bedroom for grandchildren staying etc when I told her this ,her reply was that was then this is now. and if you dont put your name on the list you will not have the option after April…I think it is disgusting because we live in social housing we are looked at as scum this government are using bully boy tacticts and are forcing us to leave our homes as we cannot afford the extra rent .The sooner this government go the better!
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I know how you feel I cannot sleep with worry. I have been on the transfer list for some months but nothing that fits the one bedroom I am supposed to have.
Plus I have family and grandchild that frequently visit and stay. Family is in Kent. It is disgusting that thousands of people in this country are going to be forced into a third world situation. The Britain I knew took pride in helping those of third world countries and prided itself on being different. Now it seems a section of its population are to be regarded as sub human being made to pay (not just money) an impossible price. I am not against helping Africa etc but the hypocrisy is sickening. My council today sent me a countdown letter. Ten weeks to go before I find a new home or pay up. The fun of it all is I will not know to what extent I have to pay until the end of March and my tax starts from April 1st. What a farce and what a sad thought that criminals are better thought of and are better provided for that genuine people who have fallen onto hard times. Proud to be British not any more.
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Don’t pay it, people. A campaign of non-payment is the best option. It’s a disgusting; mean; nasty; evil-minded; act, instigated by an equally disgusting; mean; nasty; evil-minded government intent on implementing a divisive class-based social engineering project to effectively ghettoize and stigmatise the unemployed (scum of the Earth as far as the Tory/Liberal Government is concerned) Don’t pay it! Make them come and get it. They’ll soon get the message.
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There is going to be riots and suicides if this goverment put anymore pressure on the poor.they have took cars and dla of thousands they will put us all in the gas chambersbecause we are sick.hes worse than maggie thatcher
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This shocking tax will not effect me but my son who has a two bedroomed flat. At the present time he is unemployed and desperate for work.he has a foot injury which he recieves regular injections and is restricted as to what kind of job he can do. It’s soul destroying to see him search for work. He lives on a pitance so the choice will be does he pay water rates house insurance or rent! It’s a crime against poverty. I’d also like to add he did two tours in irac an paid FULL RENT AN COUNCIL TAX when he was away i know cause i was authorised to pay it for him
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You all have your own valid stories but what about overcrowded families who are stuck in a small flat while a single person or couple enjoy more bedroom that they need? Council flats are not for life, when our needs change it is only fair to downsize especially if the rent is paid by the taxpayers. People are getting tired of assisting people when they can barely survive on their salary
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There aren’t enough ‘spare bedrooms’ to deal with the problem of over-crowding Michelle. Take the case of Swindon. If you add together all the people who are going to get stung by the bedroom tax with those on the waiting list who qualify for a one bedroom property, it would take 50 years to accommodate them all, if the housing waiting list was closed down.
The ‘bedroom standard’ on which the judgement of ‘spare’ rooms is based, is stupid. So a young couple only qualify for one bedroom. What is the point of sticking them in a one bedroom place when as soon as they have a kid they will have to be moved. And if they had one or two more they would have to move again. No, the problem of overcrowding can only be tackled by building new council homes on a large scale.
I’m afraid you are falling into the government’s trap of blaming existing tenants instead of concentrating your fire on the politicians and demandin more homes be built. If you have seen any of the stuff on TV recently you will have seen bases of disabled people who are being punished even though in many cases they have to sleep in separatee rooms. They are not responsible for the housing shortage are they?
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I do not think that I am falling into the government trap of blaming existing tenants. I for one never had the luck of getting a council flat here in London. I have raised both my children 12 and 17 years old in a a small one bedroom flat. We both work hard as nurses and a big part of our income is going towards rent. Do I have any sympathy towards people living alone in flat that are too big for their needs? Not at all. If they want to keep a home too large for their needs they can pay for the privilege… The fact that people expect taxpayers to subsidise the extra bedrooms they have is beyond me.
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But that means you are accepting the ‘bedroom standard’. It takes no account of the usual life-cycle. Everybody’s kids leave home at some stage. And when they move away, that ‘spare’ bedroom is somewhere for them to stay when they visit. Take a the example of a young couple. They only ‘qualify’ for one bedroom. What sense is there in putting a couple in a one bedroom place, when as soon as they have a kid they have to be moved. Two more and they would have to be moved again. When the kids leave home they have to downsize. You can’t create a home under these conditions.
Of course, in reality they could not be moved about like this because there are not enough homes of the ‘right’ size. In Swindon there are more than 5,000 households who qualify for one bedroom – those on the waiting list and those who are victims of the bedroom tax. At the rate they are offering one bedroom properties annually it would take 50 years to accommodate all these people, but ONLY if the waiting list was closed down.
Even if NOBODY on the waiting list was given a tenancy, it would take more than 10 years to move all the people getting caught by the tax. It can’t possibly work can it.
As for people on HB, we have shown cases on this web site where people in their fifties, who have worked all their lives, have been made redundant and despite their best effort have been unable to find work. Two thirds of the people getting caught are disabled, and you must know the difficulties of disabled people finding work.
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From a person this bedroom tax is effecting up to a couple or so years ago my house was full. Just after my family left I was suddenly made redundant. Up till then for nearly 20 years of living in this house I had paid every penny of my rent and council tax. I became employed again and paid my full rent etc. But again I was made redundant and have been unable to secure a new job.My age does not help. Now had I still been working I more than likely would have looked at swapping to a smaller property but living on job seekers puts you into poverty and you are trapped. By the time you pay your gas, electric water etc there is not much money left to eat let alone find the extra cost of moving. Removal vans cost a lot of money along with all the other expenditures it involves. So staying put was the only option for me until hopefully I got a new job. You have been fortunate that it seems you have never experienced redundancy or any time having to survive on benefits. But this tax on bedrooms is abhorrent because for people like me there are no properties to move to with the required criteria for my needs. It is not really a case of wanting to keep a home bigger than my needs it is a case I have nowhere else to go. I am sorry you never managed to rent a council property, I am surprised that your council have not classed your living conditions as over crowded but forcing people into a situation of either starvation or eviction is not going to resolve the shortages of homes. Also I’m sure there will be thousands of people this tax is affecting who have like myself been in employment for the majority of their working life and also been a taxpayer.
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Hi, I’m so glad I found your site & downloadable doc.
I live in Norfolk & retired. According to your info we will not be affected.
We downsized from a 3 bed house to 2 bed bungalow 2 yrs ago by swap with young family. I couldn’t manage stairs.
This tax will be a massive burden again aimed at those on very low income.
The rich get richer the poor poorer!
Wonder when we will see the old window tax return! That would confirm we are heading back into the dark ages!
I bet none of those in power over us live in social housing, on HBs, or struggle with the everyday necessaties if life!
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The reason this Bedroom Tax seems such an impossible situation is because although we discuss things on this and other sites we feel totally alone and isolated in our plight. There is no opportunity to actually meet face to face in our own areas. I for one in my area have no idea how many people down my road are going through the same thing let the alone the rest of my town. When I say meet I mean meet to find solutions not to spend hours slagging off the Government or Local Council but to actively meet to productively find solutions. Maybe ways in contacting Human Rights, Newspaper and Media bombardment of stories. Maybe collectively as a group arranging to visit Council Offices to ask to see someone who will provide information on their polices of how we are to be dealt with when arrears will inevitably occurs due to our very vulnerable and impossible financial positions. But making sure that we have fully kept the media informed of any such visit to witness our true intent which is information, help and guidance. Setting up between ourselves local support groups in which think tanks can develop, using individual skills to provide help for all. Not in anyway by abusive behaviour as that only serves to fuel the conception this country already has been led to believe in that we are scroungers and live the life of abundance on benefits. Grouping together with other similar groups in other towns and cities to nationally contact charities like Shelter collectively asking them to advise us on homelessness. Seeking free information from advice centres on the laws governing poverty and eviction. Writing letters collectively (meaning hundreds of letters arriving at the same time) to every local MP both Conservative and Labour. Wanting genuinely to know what we can do especially if as is most often the case we have no where else to go and no hope of being able to pay even with the most willing attitude in the world. Singularly we are insignificant united we are powerful. But united in seeking a positive outcome in a positive non self destructive way.
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today 14th feb this seems as if it is not at all aimed at those on benefits today this was reported in the paper The con-dems say their plans due to be introduced in april will save cash and tackle under tenancy in social housing. They say people who cant afford the extra rent should take in lodgers or work extra hours so not aimed at the unemployed on benefits at all and only a matter of time before they try to target those with a mortgage who’s kids have grown up and left home.
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all they are doing i filling there bank acounts up again and hitting the poor all ways the poor hit the rich bastards get rid of government the people should stand together but will they
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Why are they charging people ‘bedroom tax’ before they have even offered affected tenants a smaller property, how do they expect them to downsize when they have already admitted there aren’t enough one bedroom properties available. Do they not realise the average person on benefit gets 72 pound a week , which is roughly 10 pounds a day, to buy food and pay bills and water rates, it is already a struggle to survive on this most basic small amount, so to have to pay another 40 pound a month for an extra bedroom (or an extra 80 pound for people with 2 extra rooms) out of their benefit is literally impossible. Unless of course they expect people to starve, they probably even class basic food like beans on toast as a luxury these days ! They are a disgrace, how do they sleep at night, until they are willing r house all of the affected people into one bedroom accommodation, they simply shouldn’t have brought this ridiculous idea foward. The truth is Cameron hasn’t dealt with immigration as he promised was his main priority, so is taking from us to support other areas he hasn’t dealt with, wouldn’t surprise me if he’s brought bedroom tax out because he wants us all forced out of our homes so that he can give our properties to immigrants and the polish that are still flooding over here, even though there is clearly already a lack of properties and jobs. One other thing, will they be charged ‘bedroom tax’ ? Will the queen? Think she has a few extra rooms, but of course not because as always it is the poor who are targeted, not good enough that they are already living the most basic of loves, scraping by, they have to make it even worse, this change will cause homelessness, and poverty, but because it doesn’t affect him, he won’t care of course, safe to say this will be Camerons downfall and good riddance. He has not only created a lot of problems, but has been heartless and selfish
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…..and you forgot to add to that the 15% of council tax some of us will have to find on top of the bedroom tax! How this government are getting away with it I just don’t know! How can someone living on jsa of £71 per week find this amount to live in their home? As you say, they haven’t offered people one bed properties, before charging them this amount for their ‘spare’ room…..they know they DON’T HAVE the smaller homes to do this – it is just a way of taxing the poor, making them have to leave their homes of 30 or more years, so that another tenant, who happens to be in a better job and doesn’t need some help from housing benefit, can move in and BUY IT!
This was always their idea – that’s why they increased the RTB discount to £75,000…..they want to do away with social housing altogether, and they are succeeding. It’s so sad. These houses were built for council tenants…..not for the better off to BUY them, and remove them forever from the social housing stock!
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They aren’t succeeding Pammy. The numbers of tenants that can get a mortgage and afford to buy are tiny.
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They have just sold another 3,000 of our council homes due to the massive discount offered! That’s just the start of it……..
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We should press Labour to abandon RTB.
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Well, when Labour were in they brought the RTB discount down to a maximum of £16,000, and the tenants taking it up almost stopped! We need this government out now, before they do any more damage to this country!
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I said this would happen- and I have no doubt the Tories new many who would pay the BT would take up this option. It’s all about selling of the housing stock and leaving those that can’t or won’t buy with the worst.
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Plaid Cymru will join forces with the Greens and the SNP to make a last ditch attempt to derail the so-called “bedroom tax” which will hit Wales harder than any other part of the uk
The parties want the UK Government to make final hour changes to the controversial policy before it comes into force in April. Under this welfare reform, people will see a cut in their housing benefit if they are considered to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home
Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2013/02/26/plaid-cymru-makes-late-attempt-in-parliament-to-derail-bedroom-tax-91466-32885898/#ixzz2M31GykGY
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http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2013-02-27-Housing-provider-organising-mass-bedroom-tax-protests
Housing provider organising mass bedroom tax protests
A social landlord is harnessing the voice and power of 100,000 tenants across the North East to launch a mass protest against the bedroom tax.
Coast & Country’s tenant panel organised a welfare reform bedroom tax summit with tenants’ representatives from 19 housing associations
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Selfish, selfish people. The state provides you with a house as you can’t afford your own, or pays your rent if you cant afford it. Thank god we live in a civilised society with a welfare state.
I would love a council house for me and my family but i am told I will be waiting years as there is a limited housing supply. One reason my family has to live in expensive private rented accommodation is because most of the 3 bed council houses are under occuppied but their tenants refuse to move.
Just because you have lived in you state provided accommodation for umpteen years, it doesn’t entitle you to stay for life. Move to a house with the required amount of bedrooms then you won’t have to pay!!
This forum represents everything that is wrong with this country today.
Before anyone asks, I am white/English, 40 working(£25000pa) not some rich tory boy.
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“the required amount of bedrooms”. There’s an interesting question. A single parent or a couple with 2 children in a 3 bed house would have to move four times during their life cycle owing to the ludicrous ‘bedroom standard’ which you appear to accept. Most of the homes with ‘spare’ bedrooms are unaffected by the BT because pensioners and people who pay full rent are not affected. I don’t qualify for HB. I live in a 2 bed house with my partner. Techniocally we are ‘under-occupying’. Like most people though we have children and family to v isit. They couldn’t stay without that ‘spare’ bedroom.
I’m afraid you are playing the government’s game. The shortage of housing is the result of “right to buy” and the refusal of politicians to build new homes over 25 years. Yet you blame tenants. It’s always best to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, otherwise you are liable to adopt a point of view which is just based on self-interest.
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The fault lies with successive governments who have refused to increase the housing stock while selling it off at huge discount- is buying an under occupied house any more helpful than renting it?
And what is the ‘required amount of bedrooms’? is it unreasonable to have a spare room? Of course it is not.
If you have grievances, direct them to the correct target- the government.
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Social housing was originated in the late 1800s because thete were so many familirs overcrowding properties in what was already a ‘black’ poverty striken area, or homeless.
It was a Godsend for many & this worked for many years until a certain political woman made it possible for tenants to buy the property they were in.
This was the gravest & biggest mistake Tory made. We said at the time that it will lead to a lack of housing in the future.
If social housing was not available we would be back in those times again, seeing hundreds on the streets. I feel sure you would not want this?
The fact you have already tried proves you would consider social housing for you & your family.
What I am against is those private landlords who bump up the price of rental & councils etc pass the property onto non British people who come over to make money out of our already over stretched system!
And on the note of giving up property, we did so a young family could live in our lovely home. yes. It was a home ss we lived there over 20 yrs as our family grew up.
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http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/legal/bedroom-tax-faces-second-legal-challenge/6526264.article
Human rights group Liberty is launching legal action against the government’s penalty for under-occupation of social housing.
The organisation said it will seek a judicial review as it believes the penalty, widely known as the ‘bedroom tax’, breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. Liberty said it will argue that the policy is discriminatory and would infringe on family life.
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what would happen to you if you refuse to pay this bedroom tax. incidentally my son has recently been rehoused as his block of flats was to be demolished and he has been rehoused in a 2 bedroomed flat as there were no 1 bedroomed flats available. he has a choice of 2 properties, both 2 bedroomed, so the council put him there, approx. 12 months ago, and now are expecting him to pay this tax.. he suffers from severe depression and recieves treatment for this and he is worried sick, as he did not put himself into a 2 bed by choice, its what he was given and he had to accept or become homeless, some choice, not. please everyone, its time to stand up and say ENOUGH, PEOPLE WHO CLAIM hb are on the poverty line, asking them to pay this tax is taking them below the poverty line, is it legal for a government to be able to do that.
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Dont give up! We will get this attack on our civil liberties abolished whatever it takes! Appeal is the first step – thousands are doing this – it will show that we do not agree with this ‘tax on the poor’, and we’re not standing for it!
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Yes Pammy, in the article I read, it stated this is in violation of our human rights! I do wish I could remember where I read it though.
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Somewhere, very recently, I read that this policy IS NOT YET LAW! That said, there are several policitians who are also against this ridiculous and discrimitory action, who are opposing these plans.
I’ve always thought that if something was not LAW – it cannot be enforced?
I wish I could remember where I read this. I’m sure it was on a media website somewhere, sorry.
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I FOUND IT!!! Here’s the link:
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/media/press/2013/liberty-bedroom-tax-breaches-right-to-family-life.php
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i really hope so, not just for my son but for everyone that this tax affects. theres people who have lived in properties for 10/20 years who are now having to move or face financial hardsip, does the government not understand the effects that can have on older people under pensionable age. thats their life that the government is taking away from them and their right of choice. this has to be a human rights issue, if we all stood together on this and refused to pay, they cannot evict thousands of people for not paying – can they. its like going back to the dark ages where everything was taxed just so the rich could have a better life, i am no longer proud to be british.
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Carnt you just fit a toilet in the spare bedroom and call it a ensuite to avoid the penalty ?
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the flat my son has was rented as a 2 bed, although it has no heating in it. he has a small kitchen, not big enough for table and chairs, a small lounge, again not big enough for table and chairs, so hopefuuly his landlords will change the use of the 2nd bedroom into a dining room, he hasnt updated me yet regards that subject. my son as attempted suicide 3 times in last two years and its so worrying that this situation will push him over again. if he has to pay it then his family will take on the responsibility of that so he can be worry free, its beyond belief what this government is doing.
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i am 32 yrs old and my brother is 31 and we both are on benifits my mother is also on benifits too’ she is the Tennent of our 3 bedroom house. Me and my brother have to pay just under £15 each a week for our rooms out of our benifits. We cannot claim housing benifit’ all ov us buy are own food and put our own part on electric and gas in every week. Half of the time we row and we stay in seperate rooms most of the time but use the kitchen toilet shower ect. when we need too. we have ended up in erears through this change in the system. My mother cannot downsize to a smaller property because of these arrears and myself and brother cannot move out or get a flat of our own because my mother will not be able to pay this herself especially with her arrears aswell. We would make her homeless’ This system is really wrong’ especially if their is no smaller properties to put everyone. Things are hard enough already just to survive on benifits I have no faith in the british government anymore they should be helping us not put us on the streets.. If its about too many people claiming benifits! Then they should ask themselves WERE ARE THE JOBS’ No one likes to be on benifits but this is the way the government made our country’ jobs for everyone else and soz their own. I feel for each and every one of you that have commented and i truely hope it workes out for everyone of you. TRY TO STAY STRONG PEOPLE.
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