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West Dunbartonshire hardest hit by Bedroom Tax
Local MP Gemma Doyle has called the UK Government’s bedroom tax ‘appalling’ after new figures show that West Dunbartonshire will be the hardest hit.
The UK Government’s policy means a cut in Housing Benefit to households from 1st April this year. And new figures published from the National Housing Federation show that out of all the areas in Scotland, West Dunbartonshire will be hardest hit, with an estimated 2,714 people losing out from the bedroom tax.
In addition to being the worst affected area in Scotland, West Dunbartonshire is also in the top 10 constituencies across the UK to be hit the hardest; in ninth place – the only Scottish constituency in the top 10.
Gemma Doyle MP recently challenged the Prime Minister directly in the House of Commons over the Bedroom Tax in PMQ’s, where she asked him why he supported an exemption to the Bedroom Tax for the families of prisoners but not for disabled people, cancer patients, foster parents or armed forces families.
Labour’s West Dunbartonshire Council is leading the way in Scotland by allocating significant additional resource in an attempt to try and mitigate the impact the shortfall in Housing Benefit will have both on tenants and on resources across the Council.
Speaking after the new figures were published, MP Gemma Doyle said:
“These figures are extremely alarming. It’s appalling that so many families in our area will suffer due to this ill thought through policy by the Tory-led Government.
“Money is already tight for local people, with many unable to find a job and price rises already squeezing household budgets. Even for this Government it is callous in the extreme to leave some of the most vulnerable people in such uncertainty about the future of their homes. Tenants will have their housing benefit cut even if there isn’t even a smaller home for them to move to.
“The Prime Minister thinks that disabled people should pay the bedroom tax, but that millionaires should get a tax cut. He’s hitting families of soldiers serving our country who will have to find extra money for their son or daughter’s bedroom, foster families helping children in need of a home and separated parents who need to have somewhere for their children to stay. It tells you all you need to know about where this Tory/Lib Dem Government’s priorities lie.”
This week Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie has also criticised the Scottish Government for their failure to do anything to protect Scots from the Bedroom Tax. Jackie said:
“It’s time the SNP Government stopped promising people change tomorrow, when they need support today. In the House of Commons the SNP said that more houses and advice for tenants was important, but they cut the housing budget again this year and they sat on funding for welfare advice for 18 months before using it.
“The SNP’s warm words won’t protect anyone from the bedroom tax. The bedroom tax isn’t a sign we need independence. It’s a sign we need a Labour Government. Gemma Doyle and I will continue to fight against this unfair tax but we need action from the SNP to help local authorities protect those affected.”
More information about the Bedroom Tax
Housing Benefit claimants living in the social rented sector currently receive the benefit according to the rent level rather than the size of the property they occupy. However, the UK Government’s Welfare Reform Act introduces size criteria for Housing Benefit.
Those people across West Dunbartonshire found to have more bedrooms than they are entitled to under the new size criteria rules (under-occupying) will now face a reduction in their Housing Benefit of 14% for the ‘under occupation’ of one bedroom, and 25% of the total eligible rent for the under occupation of two bedrooms or more.
Read more at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/a4-2012.pdf p4 and http://www.housing.org.uk/news/underoccupation_-_bedroom_tax.aspx