“Abolish the ‘bedroom tax’ or give the Scottish Parliament the powers to do so” plea from the Welfare Reform Committee

The UK Government should abolish the ‘bedroom tax’ or give the Scottish Parliament the powers to do so according to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee. The Committee has published an interim report on the matter today (Friday 31 January) following extensive evidence taking and research into the impact of the under-occupancy charge and wider welfare reforms.

Concluding that the cost to tenants is “iniquitous and inhumane and may well breach their human rights”, the report examines in detail the impact of the charge, the ongoing attempts at mitigating the impact by local authorities and Scottish Government and puts forward abolition as the solution to the “bad law”.

Committee Convener Michael McMahon MSP said:

“The ‘bedroom tax’ remains bad law. Treating people’s homes only as bricks and mortar, homes of around 65,000 disabled people and 15,000 homes with children, is simply not acceptable in this day and age. Smaller properties just aren’t available because we spent years developing our housing stock to offer homes people could grow their families in, so they could set down roots and establish communities. The reality for many is they cannot pay, and they cannot move.

“And to make the situation even more frustrating, it is entirely possible it is costing the public purse more to implement than it is saving. The only conclusion the majority of the Committee could come to, when faced with the evidence and research we have seen, is to call for the UK Government to abolish the ‘bedroom tax’ with immediate effect. And if they won’t do that, to give the Scottish Parliament the powers and resources to do so.”

Deputy Committee Convener Jamie Hepburn MSP explained:

“The evidence we have heard during the past year has been disturbing. The impact of the ‘bedroom tax’ is having a real and harmful effect on people’s lives, often the most vulnerable in society who deserve our compassion and support. And to make matters worse, it is highly unlikely to be saving the public purse anything.

“The situation is a farce at the moment, with money taken with one hand from tenants for alleged ‘spare rooms’ by the DWP. Meantime, the other hand is paying out public money to tenants from the Scottish Government and DWP through Discretionary Housing Payments. On top of that, it is costing Local Authorities to provide advice and support services and pay staff to deliver all of this. Whilst our report welcomes the £20 million allocated by the Scottish Government for DHPs, unless the ‘bedroom tax’ is scrapped, we will continue to be in the ridiculous situation of robbing Peter to pay Peter.”

The report examines the impact of the under-occupancy charge / ‘bedroom tax’, the steps taken and required to mitigate it and puts forward solutions agreed by the majority of the Committee. It pulls together the first hand evidence presented to the Committee, alongside research published during the past 12 months. Within the report, the Committee sets out:

• Its belief that the under-occupancy charge, also known as the ‘bedroom tax’ is iniquitous and inhumane and may well breach tenant’s human rights.
• How many people are ‘trapped’ into paying the ‘bedroom tax’ in that there are not enough one bedroom properties available to downsize to.
• The considerable work and resources and necessary bureaucracy required by to ameliorate and mitigate the impact of the ‘bedroom tax’ in Scotland by individuals, groups, charities, the third sector, Local Authorities and the Scottish Government. The Committee has welcomed this.
• That although the ‘bedroom tax’ will reduce the housing benefit budget, it introduces a number of new costs to tenants, housing associations, local authorities, the Scottish Government and others and may cost more than it saves.
• The development trends of rent arrears and the impact upon housing associations, concluding that this is negatively impacting on these bodies cash flow and finances.
• That the level of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) originally allocated by the DWP to deal with the transitional problems does not match the scale of the problem.
• The essential case for the DWP to increase its current level of support and confirm its allocation of funds for DHP for the next two years.
• A welcome to the additional £20 million DHPs allocated by the Scottish Government until end of March 2015.
• How the Scottish Government should explore further ways to mitigate the impact of the ‘bedroom tax’ in the short term, and following April 2014, whether there are other avenues of support to be considered.

Background

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduced a charge on under-occupation by working age social tenants receiving Housing Benefit from 1 April 2013. This was estimated by the Scottish Government at May 2013 to affect around 82,000 households in Scotland and cost them an average of £50 a month. 80% of those households included a disabled adult and 15,500 of the total cases consisted of families with children.

Alex Johnstone MSP has dissented from elements of the Committee’s report, details of which can be found within the report.