Resistance to the Bedroom Tax, which will lead to thousands of people at risk of imminent homelessness, is sweeping across the UK.
From this April, council tenants with a spare room will see vital housing benefits cut by an average of £15 a week. This will see those who are unemployed, on low incomes, or out of work due to sickness or disability, facing paying a huge chunk of paltry benefits towards keeping a roof over their heads.
Along with changes to Council Tax Benefits, and soaring fuel and water bills, some claimants could find themselves left with virtually nothing left at all to buy food. Amongst those hit will be parents whose children have recently left home, separated parents, foster carers and disabled people living in specially adapted properties. Around 660,000 tenants are estimated to be affected by the change.
The Government has demanded that tenants should just move if they have a problem paying the extra costs. Yet there is a woeful supply of one bedroom social housing meaning transfers to smaller properties in most cases will be impossible. This is likely to lead to an exodus of social housing tenants to the private sector – where rents are far higher. Not for the first time this policy seems to be more about attacking the very poorest and undermining social housing then actually saving money.
Tenants are now acting together to resist these changes, with news of meetings, campaigns and actions happening across the UK. Here’s a list, which is far from exhaustive, of some of what’s been organised so far. Please feel free to add details of anything that’s been missed in the comments.
Liverpool – A wide network has emerged opposing the bedroom tax with a ‘Ruckus at Mutual Homes’ on Wednesday 7th February at noon. Astonishingly the Chairman of Liverpool Mutual Homes proposed workfare for tenants to make up the rent shortfall. For details of the protest visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/472210886178901/
Several local planning meetings are being held around Liverpool in the next few weeks – for full details visit: http://combatbedroomtax.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/liverpool-tenants-meetings-housing.html
Glasgow – Groups including Black Triangle Campaign, Govan Law Centre and Glasgow Housing Action are all agitating against the bedroom tax with some form of action inevitable. A meeting has also been called by the Socialist Party Scotland on February 11th: http://www.facebook.com/events/615638345129882/ whilst Coalition Of Resistance have a meeting on the 13th.
Edinburgh – Similar mobilisations are taking place. A call has also gone out on facebook for a protest against the bedroom tax in Scotland on March 30th: http://www.facebook.com/events/369488576491663/
Leeds – A website is up and a meeting has already been held in Seacroft, with a further meeting being held in Armley on February 14th. Full details at: http://leedshandsoffourhomes.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/armley-stop-the-bedroom-tax-meeting/
London – A protest has been called on March 30th when campaigners will meet at Trafalgar Square then walk down to Downing Street to literally hand over the shirts off their backs – full details at: http://www.facebook.com/events/147409045413846/
A meeting in London recently took place in which a new network to fight all the welfare cuts was established including DPAC, Right To Work, Defend Council Housing as well as the PCS and UNITE Unions – more info at: http://www.dpac.uk.net/2013/01/campaign-for-benefit-justice-sign-up-to-our-statement-against-tory-attacks-on-the-poor/
And there is of course the inevitable petition aimed at scrapping the bedroom tax at: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Paul_Higgins/
Finally worthy of a mention is the SPeye blog which has featured some of the best coverage of the bedroom tax, including revealing that despite Tory lies, it seems many pensioners will be hit by the tax.
Please tweet, share and spread the word about all groups and events. It’s early days yet and networks are still being formed and co-ordinated. If your group is organising a meeting, action or protest then please spam the fuck out of the comments below.
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
the void 
i will be affected by the bedroom tax, i will lose £21.40 per wk housing benefit as according to the govs size criteria i am under-occupied by 2 bedrooms even though 1 of the rooms is under 70sqft, which is not classified as a bedroom but a boxroom in the private sector,
check out speye,s blog
I http://speye.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/is-the-bedroom-tax-unlawful-yes-it-must-and-has-to-be/
QUOTE FROM ABOVE ARTICLE
I wrote about this last year and I was minded of this bizarre situation again when Reigate & Banstead Borough Council issued a news release this month which has been forwarded to me today and I quote from this below:
On Friday 7 December at Redhill Magistrates Court, Mr Mohammad Sarwar, Redhill, was convicted of breaching an overcrowding notice serviced on him under the Housing Act 2004.
Mr Sarwar is the landlord of 75 Knighton Road, Redhill, which is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) where rooms are individually let with access to a shared kitchen and bathroom. One room in the property, measuring 4.5 metres squared, was deemed too small for letting in 2007. However, on 28 March 2012, Environmental Health Officers found that the room was occupied.
I have emphasised the size above and of course the news release is wrong and must mean 4.5 square metres which is or could be 7 feet 5 inches by 6 feet 6 inches; whereas 4.5 metres squared is 14’9″ by 14’9″ which by any definition is a bedroom and quite a large one.
7 feet 5 by 6 feet 6 inches is in lay terms a boxroom and not a bedroom and as this news release says is ‘too small’ to be occupied.””
how can it be right that fucking lord freud says that poorer people in social housing in reciept of housing benefit cannot have a spare room, but he can have 11 spare bedrooms paid for by the taxpayer
Excellent. What a pity it was that so many of the people who are rightly angry about THIS ‘bedroom tax’ were so silent and thereby complicit when Labour introduced a similar policy for the private rented sector. That resulted in thousands of households being evicted for arrears or having their Shorthold Tenancy ended. Not a bleat from the hand-wringing ‘Guardian’ types then. Silent when Labour did it. Deafening when the Tories do it.
I had no idea Labour HAD introduced a similar policy for the private sector. I was not even aware of it. And no, I wasn’t a supporter of New Labour.
Didn’t realise this either (last time in private rented (shared) housing was around 12 years ago and remember ‘full rent’ being paid if not in work, but (thinking back now) there were mutterings that it was about to change/wasn’t going to be guaranteed for much longer. Moved into a council property soon afterwards & then to a housing association, so probably just missed it.
Private renting has always felt like (one of) the most insecure forms of housing even before this – and with a dependant/and a tendency for income to have fluctuated, it’s not something I’ve felt able to consider (all things being equal – which isn’t likely). This could of course all change if it turns out to be ‘a bit more of a mandatory option’ at some point down the line ….
Inbred UKIP loon is UKIP loon.
UNDER-OCCUPANCY PENALTY AND THE VULNERABLE
LIST OF MPS WHO HAVE SIGNED THE EARLY DAY MOTION 984
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/984
since yesterday i have wrote to at least 20 labour MPs requesting that they sign the EDM, I have up to know had postitive response,s from 2 labour MPs who informed me that they have now signed the motion
People need to wake up and realize that if you do hold back non payment of rent evictions will take place whether you work or claim benefits well well well they may as well build more prisons as this will turn people to crime in fear of evictions
Dont’t forget https://www.facebook.com/groups/antibedroomtax/ with almost 9,523 members to date.
off topic
The channel 5 news at 5 have just announced that those insulting others on the internet may be prosecuted – that’s rich considering all the slanderous remarks made in newspapers against the sick and unemployed, not to mention politicians joining in also.
I know Guy, but as Ricky Gervais pointed out, calling someone a cunt used to be an insult, now it is a term of endearment 🙂
This is unlike any other benefits policy. Ever. There is NO transitional protection. There is NO route to entitlement or exemption via an appeals structure and tribunals. (Even Esa and DLA have those). The local authority have NO statutory duty to provide you with a discretionary housing payment to cover the shortfall. There is NO right to appeal against not being given a DHP. There is judicial review which just looks at the way the decision was made not the merits of the case. There is NO protection for vulnerable groups. Everyone is in the same boat, regardless. There is NO recourse to a minimum income you are not meant to go beneath; in other words you are expected to use other subsistence benefits to now pay rent. These benefits were not awarded to pay rent but that is now ignored too. How the hell did they get away with this? Citizens are meant to be protected from destitution and homelessness. There are no words to describe my anger about this policy.
Exactly – minimum required by law to live on – torn up and thrown away. It’s a random amount anyway as its based on the past + a degree of inflation etc.
As a private renter on JSA I’ve been paying a % for a while now. Would love a local housing property but !
That doesn’t detract from the fact this is bonkers and wrong.
Plus – from the tweet earlier today more needs to be looked into regards the impact of UC and pensioner couples.
As it stands my rent surplus is covered by taking from the CTC or CB pot.
If the local authority have no statutory duty to provide you with a discretionary housing payment, what was all that bluster on pm questions today about £50 million being allocated for those affected by benefit withdrawal? Where will that money go? To move you need new carpets,wallpaper in my case I have fitted wardrobes so need new wardrobes, removal costs, you lose your right to buy and the list goes on. If we cannot afford bedroom tax we cannot afford all of the above even if there was somewhere to move to.
Apparently housing benefit and council tax benefit are all tied into universal credit, does that mean if they sanction you all of your benefits go, will they be doing that as a way to evict people from their homes.?
The whole policy is a shambles and is totally unfair, as stated on pm questions by Ed Milliband who will no doubt not reverse these policies either, despite his opposition now.
Perhaps we will get our say in court if they try to evict for non-payment.
I hate to say it but you don’t need new carpets or wallpaper etc – unless they’ve been left in a vile state. In which case the previous tenants should be made to pay by the housing / letting ppl.
Moved into my wee 2 bed – laminate flooring! Freezing – cant afford to replace but you live with it?
Obviously I don’t support the idea that people who have had assured tenancies and improved their own homes can be driven out by a stupid Idea that will end up costing more long term.
The clue is in the name; it’s discretionary. And it’s not 50 million it’s 30, he doesn’t even understand his own policies. That 30 million is meant for those with wheelchair adaptations and foster carers affected by bedroom tax. Except again they’re on very dodgy ground; you’re not meant to target a discretionary fund at specific groups. It’s not legal. How long before this lot get taken to court?
Is that Llewellyn from the Green green grass of home, looks more like him than IDS.
Roger G
Far be it for me to defend the council, especially labour councils, but they were trying to bring about a fair rents policy and private landlords were and still are charging extortionate rents to those either unable or unwilling to live in social housing. The tenants in the private sector then and now should be organising for lower fairer rents not trying to push social housing rents upwards.
Jen
It is only in private furnished accommodation that carpets are left behind and wallpaper may not be suitable even if in good condition. You are right though that people with assured tenancies should not be financially driven out of their homes.
Seriously ppl take the carpets? At least the councils usually replace or do they not?
When we moved in to PR one carpet was beyond vile _ stains etc. so now floor boards plus silicon sealant for draughts.
However – wallpaper – mine doesn’t suit it’s rank but its clean and mould free mainly…
I do feel there is a wee bit more refurb support from council properties than private rents.
But – wish the issues could be drawn together. A lot of minimum wage etc are in private rent etc.
100% behind being against this and other issues atos etc which don’t directly impact on me and that’s the only way forward – get people who aren’t directly impacted to be affronted by the injustice of the badly thought out policies.
ps you say your surplus rent is covered by a cb or ctc pot, in other words private renters are covered but Roger G says they are not. People should not have to be begging for discretionary payments to keep a roof over their heads.
It’s not covered _ I have to dip into the money provided for my son. On the basis I can’t get anywhere cheaper. So what else can I do ? Cut back – eat less, heat less.
Not covered at all but – scrimping on other things! DG
No – I said it comes out of child tax credit and child benefit. Spending less. In order to try and stay in a £400 PCM 2 bed home with a back boiler on an open fire as the only source of heating. Ffs.
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I would encourage every person affected by this vindictive tax to appeal to their Council’s decision to reduce their housing benefit. They will review it and uphold the reduction and then you are entitled to take the matter to a Tribunal which is presided over by a Judge.
The government has refused, despite being encouraged to do so by the House of Lords, to define what constitutes a spare bedroom. Lord Freud has said:
“We will not be defining what we mean by a bedroom in legislation and there is no definition of a minimum bedroom size set out in regulations. It will be up to the landlord to accurately describe the property in line with the actual rent charged.”
As far as I am aware, it is for Parliament to define the laws of this land, not Landlords.
Therefore an argument can be made to the Tribunal that if it is a room with a dining table and chairs, then most people would describe that as a dining room and not a bedroom. Because the law has been made deliberately vague and because Landlords do not make the law in this country, a reasonable Judge might be persuaded that a room that does not comply with the dictionary definition of a bedroom and looks more like a dining room or an office, is not, in fact, a bedroom at all and therefore the tenant cannot be penalised by paying bedroom tax.
You do have some chance of success. You might get a reasonable Judge who takes the view that the government have deliberately written a law so vague that it either cannot be enforced, or alternatively agree that if it looks like a dining room then it is a dining room, no matter what a tenancy agreement says.
It costs nothing to take the decision to Appeal. You can represent yourself. Even if Judges agree Lord Freud and decide that Landlords CAN define who pays this tax, imagine the publicity and mayhem that would ensue if half a million people clogged up the Appeal system.
Budgie cani copy & paste your posting please onto my local bedroom tax forum
Feel free to do so Pat, I did already post the same idea there a couple of times in the past, but it didn’t get much response and got rather swamped and slipped off the page very quickly.
Ahh.. sorry Pat, I posted it on to the main facebook page against the Bedroom Tax, not your LOCAL Forum.
No you can’t. They’ve removed the AMHB (applicable maximum housing benefit) requirement. Part of the welfare reform act. It can be contested but not on the basis of the reduction in rent.
So Sue, are you are saying it CAN be contested on the basis of the number of bedrooms you are deemed to have but not on the actual amount awarded?
Presumably if the Council, in error, decided you had 3 bedrooms and you only had one bedroom and no other spare rooms, this could be contested.
Under the housing law of 1985 for overcrowding you cannot put an adult into a ‘bedroom’ that is smaller than 70 sq ft, because you can then be prosecuted, as it is classed as only half a room. Last year a landlord was prosecuted and fined £2,500. Yet tenants have been told to pay bedroom tax on these ‘half rooms’; and rent the room to a lodger, yet if they do get in a lodger they will be prosecuted. Also the landlords can be prosecuted for stating that the room is a full bedroom and not a half. Clearly the government knows that there was going to be some kind of kick back and that is why they would not define the size of the room when it is clearly stated in the housing law for overcrowding. You can put a child in that room under the age of 10 years. Lastly who in their right minds would want to rent such a small room and where would they put all of their personal belongings?
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Off topic
Stunned jobseeker finds vacancy for a workman advertised entirely in POLISH
The advertisement called for a labourer to work at Docklands, London
It had been posted onto the Jobcentre Plus website
The Department for Work and Pensions said it has now been removed
The advertised wages were also below minimum pay
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2274393/Stunned-jobseeker-finds-vacancy-workman-advertised-entirely-POLISH.html#axzz2K6tuGpAE
When has legislation concerning Social Housing ever been brought in retrospectively before ? Surely legislation such as this , should only have been brought into effect new tenancies and not ones where someone has been a tenant for say 20,30, 40 years!
Thatcher did it. My ex husband was working in the 80’s, but on a very low income. The con government then passed a welfare reform bill which scrapped housing benefit for ALL low paid workers.
Along with the poll tax this threw us into almost abject poverty. It was a very dark time for me; I felt desperate. We barely had enough food to eat, we couldn’t afford heating or to replace clothing and everything you might normally need. I couldn’t afford personal hygene products, heck even soap or loo roll at times. I couldn’t dry washing properly so all our clothing smelled of mildew. I had a new born baby and a 4 year old; goodness knows how they survived the the extreme cold and rooms caked with black mold. I became deeply depressed.
Eventually, there was a public outcry and the government brought in transitional relief which was then back dated, and that helped a lot. Then, I’m not sure if it was after Thatcher was forced to resign, but the government changed policy and housing benefit was reinstated for those on a low income. Unlike today though, there just wasn’t that level of tax credits available; we had a little income from Family Credits, but I still had to work.
What angers me most about this, is that when Grant Shapps was interviewed in the autumn after the coalition was formed, he said that the new housing benefit rules would ONLY apply to new tenants. Just another liar like all of the rest.
It’s ruined the last 2 years of my life with worry, and that’s not good when you’re already sick and subject to a continual assessment processes. I’m trying to come to terms with it, but if I lose my home of 28 years, I’d be mortified to have to go cap in hand to family.
At present I’ll take the hit, but when UC is implemented, as someone mentioned above, sanctioning could remove all benefits. I think this is what will eventually force the remaining social housing tenants from their homes.
And, I’m sorry to be negative, but there is so much propaganda in the media that the constant demonstrations seem to have no influence, and they are barely reported on. The gov will probably infiltrate these groups, like they have done others, to try and sabotage them, but I know that it’s important that those who can protest do so, and I’m thankful that people are speaking out, whatever government machinations exist.
And whoever instigates, or collaborates in or applies the sanction; the “work programme” adviser, DWP “decision maker or whatever cloak or title they hide or shelter under that forces a human being from their home into destitution should be fucking EXECUTED!! No ifs,no buts!! KILL OR BE KILLED!!
As a country we have the smallest living space in Europe (small houses). This bunch of idiot posh boys want people to live in even smaller spaces. A house is not just a house it is a home – this is something they do not seem to realise. It is a crime to cause so much upheaval to so many people and will break neighbourhoods up.
What is the problem with anybody having a spare room. It generally comes in handy if friends and family want to stay.
Remember the film “Peter’s Friends” (1992) basically if you are rich posh boy with a mansion you can let your friends stay in your home. If you are in social housing you are not allowed a room for anybody to stay the night. It is sad bad law.
What part of two thirds of those affected by the bedroom tax are disabled does Cameron not understand? He obviously has no problems making the disabled pay at every level – why? Does he have some kind of mental problem over his son?
In what kind of country can a joke be made in Parliament about a private company finding the sick, disabled and terminaly ill fit for work, have MPs falling about laughing?. Yes, it was funny – but only because we and they ALL KNOW IT IS TRUE – yet Cameron lets the process continue.
A policy delivered by a company that is so flawed it is the object of open ridicule now surely must be stopped. Even the BBC posted the video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21354087
I am currently paying for my own counselling out of my meager benefits in order that I may recover sufficiently to get back into some sort of work and contribute to society once again.
Unfortunately because I have a spare room that I never wanted or asked for, I am going to have to give up my counselling from April in order to pay this bedroom tax.
Seems like this government doesn’t want me to get back to work, they are having far too much fun grinding the disabled, poor and vulnerable down.
i will be affected by bedroom tax,im a single mum of one,have one spare box room…i work…its my home not just a house…will they care about our children being uprooted from their homes,school etc…i will have to leave my local cleaning jobs..what about my pets?so unfair and not thought through…when i got given this house 12 years ago if id known id be punished now i wouldnt of taken it!ill just have to go back to not working…and go private renting which will cost them double!no free two beds around my way!
Hello there, we are trying to form the Gloucestershire Anti-Bedroom Tax Action Group (GABTAG). Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/gabtag/ and email us at gabtag2013@gmail.com We want to hear from anyone in Gloucestershire interested in becoming active, and also form links and alliances with other groups around the country… we plan to contact as many as we can in the next week… the more of us helping to organise direct action, form phone trees and email lists the better… we have ideas for actions we would like to co-ordinate with other groups… So please get in touch!
All this is extremely worrying stuff. I’m wondering what housing associations will do when tenants can no longer afford to pay the rent. Some of the more principled HAs will publicly come out in support of the anti-bedroom tax campaigns, but most I suspect will collude with the government in the implementation of the vile policies of the Tories.
Ultimately it will result in evicitons, or at least attempted evictions, as one of the tactics of the anti-bedroom tax groups could be to ‘put in an appearance’ at the homes of those about to be evicted on eviction day. It’s been done to good effect before, (Glasgow in the late 1940s I believe) and can be used again.
It doesn’t require any kind of action, other than just being there passively resisting in as large numbers as possible, perhaps chanting an old Spanish anarchist slogan, “NO PASSARAN!” They shall not pass, when the bailiffs turn up.
Tip off local media as it happens.
Agreed… but we need to have action groups ready to resist and get others involved… so this does require organisation
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I expect mass rioting in April, and whilst I certainly won’t join in, my sympathies this time will largely be with the rioters.
As private tenants we already pay a rent ‘top-up’ for what is no more than a box room/storage cupboard.
Under the HB Local Housing Allowance you get a flat rate of £126:40p per week, regardless.
There is NOWHERE you get to rent privately at that rate or lower.
Council housing and/or social housing is a distant bureaucratic nightmare for most.
The latest ‘bedroom tax’ wheeze is simply the continuation of policies initiated by New Labour ( I Can’t Believe It’s. Not Tory ).
This is the meanest, nastiest country in W. Europe.
The ConDemNation.
Despicable.
Reblogged this on Dawn Willis sharing the News & Views of the Mentally Wealthy.
Last night Channel 4 news carried a report about a chap who’d lived in the same house for over 40 years, he’d taken over the tenancy after his parents died. He has leukemia & was obviously not well. He was using the spare room as storage & was sorting out what he’d be able to keep if he was forced to move& he had no idea where he would go if it came to that.
After this was aired John Snow questioned some tory bod who was in the studio on cases like this chap The response was ” he doesn’t need a spare room, he’s only using it for storage, so he should move” A cold, response totally lacking in empathy for a sick man with very little money.
The contempt was so obvious, it was breathtaking. May the tories rot in hell.
When talking to my social housing landlord about underoccupancy and not being able to pay the extra, I was told’ it was the government not us,’ I said but you are following their orders , the reply from them was, ‘I have to’.
occupy a Tory home movement coming into affect in April…..
The DWP spokesman they had on radio4 this morning sounded very reasonable.
“If you are liable to pay the bedroom tax and you are working, just work a few hours longer so you can make up the shortfall”.
What a pratt!
That’ll be it then ….
It seems all of those in positions to do something about injustice think it’s funny – perhaps if the government said they now had to work for nothing would they follow these orders?
Ever feel like we’re in a massive prison camp and they are just following orders?
ATOS have already used the Nuremburg defence. I have read quit a bit on how such a civilized country could have allowed the holocaust to happen and reading the reports of how people treat their fellow human beings in the ATOS/Work Program’s I know longer have any doubt that our country could just as easily provide the same kind of psychopaths to bring about similar horrors.
Thats what happens when those who perpetrate injustice loose any sense of right and wrong.
The person behind New Labour and Conservative parties attacks on the poor is Baron Freud a former investment banker. It’s not clear what life experience he has that qualifies him to give learned advice on such matters. It’s like letting a fox loose in chicken coop.
Baron Freud’s anwer to those who do not feel he has the required life experience to be involved in sorting out the problems of the lower orders is “you don’t have to be the corpse to go to a funeral”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9698985/Lord-Freuds-welfare-lifestyle-comments-show-nasty-party-is-back-say-Labour.html
The funeral in question is that of poor person that his policies is killing today. The story of Dives and Lazarus comes to mind as well as the constant call by the poor in Hebrew scriptures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_man_and_Lazarus
http://www.zompist.com/meetthepoor.html
We are supposed to live in a democracy. Yes, well, that’s the the theory anyway. All the welfare reforms have come from the ideas of Lord Fraud who knows F**k all about F**k all.
His previous Wikepedia entry,now changed, said that he messed up the flotation both of Euro disney and Euro Tunnel. There was a quote somewhere from him I read some time back which went along the lines of so many things in my life have gone wrong – it can’t ALL have been my fault.
So how can an unelected person be dictating what happens to social security in this country? He’s only a peer because Blair made him one.
You can’t even vote him out of the Parliamentary process because he just switches sides to whoever is in government. If Labour get back in, no doubt he will switch back again.
How in the hell is that democracy? Its simply back to the days of Barons telling the peasants that gruel is too good for them and to work harder in the fields for them or lose their home. Fraud must go. If he can fiddle with the politics of this country in such a massive way, then so can the Queen. Perhaps we need to get her to un -lordship him – then he would have no power whatsoever and would have to get one of those proper jobs he’s so fond of telling everyone is out there.
No one would employ him because he clearly is a bear of very little brain and cannot think through the consequences of any of his brilliant policy ideas for 5 minutes. If everyone moved into the private sector the Housing Benefit Bill would soar as would private rents due to the demand.
Stay put, don’t pay. The cost of eviction for so many people would bankrupt any local authority.
Baron Freud ideas conform to what the government wants. They could choose to ignore them but they don’t. Maybe if civil order breaks down they will try to distance themselves from the Baron just the way some of them in parliament are trying to give the impression it is an ATOS problem rather than ATOS simply being the faithful/wicked servant of the government policies. If people don’t like Baron Freuds ideas they can refuse to vote for any party that endorses them. But hang on, New Labour and the current lot have used him so …….
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To the government those that will be suffering from their laws are just nameless faces, but to those who execute these orders they know you on a face to face basis, but lack an ounce of compassion or humanity, quoting there are as many people with children waiting to move into the home they are forcing you out of that would agree with them – again we have the divide and conquer situation.
Exactly. Cameron defended the bedroom tax on the basis of fairness. In other words “we are screwing private tennents so it’s only fair fair we screw you as well”.
Yeah, Guy a big bus-load of Bulgarians and Romanians will be waiting to move into your home, that’s for sure 🙂
Just heard on the radio that the new Bank of England Governor (for which we pay) will receive a housing allowance of £250,000 p.a.
I am speechless.
They keep saying they are building new houses.
Anyone know where they are and if they are social housing? Certainly, none around my way.
It’s odd because one of the main reasons for the last fall in growth figures was mainly down to a decline in the building sector, so I don’t believe them.
Besides, a tenancy agreement is a legal document. Local Authorities have housed people in the most suitable property available and it was FOR LIFE.
I don’t see how any of this can even be legal. As a single person, I was given a 2 bed property because it was already adapted for disabled use. Now It’s my fault?
Any property is only a property for life as long as you can afford to pay for it, but this government is making sure some people cannot afford to pay for their homes, by withdrawing housing benefit for those with extra bedrooms or whose housing costs exceed the benefits cap. None of this as far as I am aware applies to those who claim for mortgages.
Yes, true. Funny tho’ aint it that yet again pensioners are going to be left alone unless they live with someone who isn’t yet a pensioner. If pensioenrs were affected, most of my road would have to move.
Just as a matter of interest, how can someone ondisability benefits get or claim for a mortgage?
They think its too much for society to swallow at the moment so any attack on the pensioners is being delayed until the next parliament. What will happen then will be a re-run of what they have done recently, i.e Cameron will talk about “fairness” and begin to set the segments of society against themselves similar to the “strivers” v “skivers” campaign.
Maybe I’ll be forced to put my spare room to better use to be able to afford the extra £500 or so per year that it will cost. All I need is a Crisis Loan to pay for the Hydroponics…..
You could rent it out to a busload of Bulgarians or Romanians – we have to free up our homes in time for their arrival….
“When is a bedroom not a bedroom?…”
Two rooms in my flat went from being a bedroom and a living room to the opposite and back again, in last few years. Both are way very large room with high ceilings – the catch being they’re really hard to heat. There was a change-of-use when one (which gets less light) had it’s gas fire ConDemned (& housing association stated that these are no longer replaced (for safety reasons) – so at least we didn’t die.
The room ended up colder (didn’t immediately go out to buy an electric replacement for various reasons) then tried swapping the rooms over, but it never really worked well (for reasons of light & just not feeling ‘right’). During the swap & looking into further options for heating the now far-too-cold room, HA said they would be able to install an extra radiator (in the original living room) if it was being used as a bedroom – since bedrooms must be able to reach a certain temperature (living rooms – doesn’t matter).
Everything now returned to ‘as before’ but with a slightly-warmer living room. To request extra heating in the room that’s the same size would be agreed to, as long as that room is a bedroom – and now, conveniently, it is. None of this was a ploy, it just ‘happened this way’ but the ‘rules’ work around the use of the room, not whether the tenants choose to use it as a sleeping, eating or living in space. The heating isn’t based on the size of the rooms, but their purpose ….all news to me. It’s an important question though – What is the definition of ‘a bedroom’? Also, why isn’t it acceptable to be seen as having ‘spare bedrooms’, not ‘spare space’ in general – spare/extra rooms not an issue? Does this make sense to anyone living in the real world? How can a charge on bedrooms “per room” not technically be a tax, and isn’t debating this point missing the point – that it’s unaffordable and patently unfair? What fresh hell is this??
What of any potential (illegal) ‘sleeping platforms’ – perhaps built by previous tenants, which could potentially open a whole other chapter in the under occupancy newly-created dictionary of ‘rooms and their uses/people who use them, for what, when and why’.
Big Brother starts on R4 this weekend – meanwhile, in bedrooms up & down the country, He is making sure we have the Right Number of Rooms, at the Right TIme. We must all thank him for not allowing us to get above ourselves.
Jan, someone on sick or disability cannot get a mortgage I have been told, but they may have had one before becoming disabled and are therefore eligible to claim for the interest on that mortgage.
OK, thanks for the reply.
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there are no affordable housing to pick up the back lash of this wicked scheme, or no new builds of affordable homes, i know as i am a builder. kicked out of affordable housing into smaller more expensive private accommodation or bedsits, this will put more people into bigger dept or on the streets, as a English man unemployed looking for work in a town we call little polland, and living in a two bedroom housing association house i will do what ever it takes to pay my way but all the job here have or are going to the Europeans, who live 7 to a home and can afford to work for less. which these large corporate companies love, i have my daughter every weekend and Wednesday nights, she has her own room how does that make me under occupying my home, oh sorry my house?…… this government is making me rage, its there fault not the peoples why were in the shit they should be the ones that are punished for there negligent running of our country and our money…………………..
John
Pensioners are untouched because they need the grey vote.
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did anyone listen to roger phillips show radio merseyside today?
A elderly woman phoned in and said that her 42 year old neighbour from Huyton would of been affected by the bedroom tax by one bedroom, she had lived in her home all her life and was very distressed over the BT, she had told her elderly neighbour the only way she was moving out of her home was in a box, and thats what exactly what happened, SHE COMMITED SUICIDE
ffs sake £25 a week “bedroom tax” of £71 a week JSA is going to leave a claimant with only £46. It is fucking impossible to live on that kind of money. And not to mention the potential for JSA sanctions. Whoever came up with this diabolical idea should be “named and shamed” and a picture of their residence published. Wouldn’t it be such a shame if hoards of malcontents descended on the cunt’s property and smashed their fucking windows in!
Lord fucking Fra(e)d is the cunt’s name mate… there is a pic of the bastard’s gaff at the top of the page… 🙂
Tory fascist wants to murder disabled people
Sorry that should be Inbred tory low-life with nazi views
Inbred, Tory low-life Murdoch connected MEP laughs while disabled people die:
Oh and the far-right nazi appeared on Fox News
More inbreeding rich tory Neanderthals on twitter.
I could be mistaken, but I’m sure I heard something on the news last week that to pay the bedroom tax, occupants of social housing could take in a lodger. Who really wants a stranger living in their home? And a lodger would have to pay their way. Would this not be classed as “income” leading to further loss of benefits?
More ill-thought-out stupidity from our ruling class.
Exactly. As a mum I do not want a lodger living with me. For all I know they could be a disgusting rapist or anything. would call me Dave have a stranger living among his children. I very much doubt it. They really do need to get a damn grip and quick, these cuts are way past a joke now,and they are even starting to put innocent children in danger. As usual it is alwaysd the poor that are targeted. This government are never brave enought to target those who can fight back. That’s a bully for you though. I fear a revolution I hope I’m wrong but people can only be supressed for so long. xx
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Reblogged this on Bournemouth & Poole Anti-Cuts Coalition.
Yes if you take on a lodger you lose the single person council tax discount.
And isn’t that the bloody irony; on the one hand you get a discount for underoccupying and on the other you get punished by the bedroom tax. Such a well-thought out policy.
Some people ask why the private sector is exempt from this bedroom tax?, the fact is those renting in the private sector have already been hit by this so it’s not exempt. It’s just another example of inept policy as this coalition lurches from one irrational extreme to the other. If we look at the sum total of what this coalition have done to the welfare state it’s almost bordering a farce, there is no reform and no savings. Borrowing has never been so high as they try to divert our attentions with things like the EU referendum and Same Sex Marriage which are important but hardly burning issue’s given the fact they have lost control of the country and it’s about to crash and burn.
I see again they have not looked at detail of circumstance where it’s not simply as black and white as one person in a 2-dedroom property or two people in a 3-bedroom property and so forth. But with this simple “One -size fits all” mentality it’s just an example of them covering up their own shortcomings regarding housing provision. If they had not bothered with all this they could have saved themselves so much money and still filtered out those who were not entitled…all this diversion has simply proven they are unfit to govern this country…. they try to encourage strivers but how many feel so motivated in their work busting their humps for crap wages whilst paying tax to this lot with the respect they clearly have for them?.
Finally: The Tory smear & justification for the #BedroomTax exposed as unwarranted.
http://www.greenbenchesuk.com/2013/02/finally-tory-smear-justification-for.html
why does my comment and info keep disappearing jv any idea?
http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2013-02-08-The-bedroom-tax-wont-work-in-Liverpool-LMH
This sounds good:-
“You could get a £100 or £250 one-off payment when you stop claiming certain benefits because you’re starting work. This is known as a Job Grant and you must be working an average of 16 hours or more a week.
You have to qualify (out of work 6 months) and any money you get:
– doesn’t have to be paid back
– won’t affect your other benefits
– is tax-free
You must start work on or before 31 March 2013 to get a Job Grant”
As – when they’re gone, they’re gone. (From 1st April (that’s April 1st) it’ll be as though these grants never existed – they’ll be looked back on as a silly idea dreamed up by some foolish hedonist, in a moment of madness, who decided that someone starting back to work after this kind of a gap would need extra money for the first month … April Fool ….
Meant to post this about job grant being dissolved with ‘social fund’-type comments. But …
(Just one trip to a local JCP can ruin your entire day).
… or a fucking “work programme” provider… ruin your fucking week…
Fuck, fucking fuck, fuck the fucking work programme!!
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & POLITICAL JOURNAL.
Fuck this Nazi bastard!
There’s another local meeting in Glasgow on Thursday 21st in Possil at the Millennium Centre on Ardoch Street, 6 – 8 pm, organised by local members of Unite Community.
The information on the Hooper family is false.
They won’t have their benefit cut.
Their bedroom criteria is calculated thus:-
Mr & Mrs Hooper = 1 bedroom
2 x children = 1 bedroom
2 x children = 1 bedroom
1 x child = 1 bedroom
Total bedroom need under Housing Benefit legislation = 4 bedrooms.
They live in a 4 bedroom house. They will only have their benefit cut if they had 4 children or lived in a five bedroom house.
What we are seeing is mass murder on a grand scale. One day our grand-children will be sat in front of the fold-up super-ray plasmatron plus 200 inch TVs watching a BBC 10 documentary on how the devious plans were cunningly implemented; the key players, the government ministers, officials, sinister figures and others unknown who hatched the plan, the manipulation of public opinion through propaganda, the collaborators in the media and judiciary, the corrupt public officials, the silence from MPs and unions, the housing associations betrayal of their tenants.
To Al South
The information on the Hooper family is correct.
They live in a 4 bedroom house but a 5th room is needed as their disabled daughter can no longer fit in a “normal” bedroom. She is currently being physically lifted in and out of the bedroom by her father. This room was to be built as an extension after recommendations from doctors.
If/when this is built they will be hit by the bedroom tax.
Thank you for the correction – so a specially adapted extension will be used as a 5th bedroom – hence the cut in benefit!
Al South
why are you supporting a cut in benefits to someone disabled, who needs a bedroom of their own?
guy fawkes where have I said I support the cut you nob?
AL South
“So a specially adapteed extension will be used as a 5th bedroom – hence the cut in benefit!”
I am asking you why should there be a cut in benefit for a fifth bedroom?
don’t call me a nob.
The clocks ticking,this type of NAZI type behaviour is is taking hold [ALL ROUND EUROPE] we no longer have traffic wardens but enforcement officers, all over the place,does that term ring a bell [ENFORCEMENT]
who seems to be ruling europe Mrs Merkel a german,Wake up people it will only go on so long ,people will break off into splinter groups and resist look in your history books The rise of Fascism this is the same pattern and the end result will be the same [WAR] in america the same things are happening google [Alex Jones] that will open your eyes, take no notice of tv news,radio,news its all edited to stop you knowing the truth,here in britain the worst culprit is the BBC the [BRITISH BULL*HIT CORPORATION] 2ND IS [SKY NEWS] please people wake up before its too late.
I have to agree. The word NAZI has come up quite afew times now in context with the conservative government. Its not the jews this time its the poor, sick, unemployed people. There are so many simularities, certain types of people discriminated against. Forced labour for benefits, being forced out of your home, the police, courts and other organisation doing the governments bidding.
Buckingham palace a giant council house run by us [Guess what] 200 BEDROOMS,[TAX EXEMPT] that says it all tax relief for millonaires from april 2013 BUT BEDROOM TAX to pay for the poorest people of society the old,sick,disabled,low wage earner to pay from april, 2013 this is money going from the poor to give to the rich. MPS MAKE ME SICK TO THE STOMACH, there all the same lib/lab/con there all on the gravy train while people on the bottom end of the scale are being socially cleansed, NAZIUM IN FULL FLIGHT. GOD HELP US.
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I have just received my rent card they have added carpet charges to net rent and charged me 14% of the total rent surely 14% should comd off the net rent then add carpet charges why should i or anyone else pay this when its onky a tax on a bedroom not happy the goverment has not mentioned this whatsoever i have alwas received full housing benefit on furnished charges and have not heard anything different
Karen, I would certasinly challenge this; if the charge is to pay for the carpets, i.e. you are buying them, I don’t see how they can do this. If the charge for the carpets is for maintenance, i.e. a service charge, then I believe this is something separate from the rent and shouldn’t be included. definately take some advice but challenge certainly.
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