In the last week Ive received a number of queries about why I voted for the Spare Room Subsidy/Bedroom Tax Bill. There are two things going on. Yes, I voted to keep the spare room subsidy but I am also supporting a Bill to make it fairer. In April 2013, the Government introduced an under-occupancy penalty to encourage more effective use of social housing. Labour had already introduced rules to stop people receiving housing benefit to support them in rented private sector properties that were larger than they needed. Action was needed because: · There are 1.7 million households waiting for housing in the social rented sector and 240,000 households already in the social rented sector are overcrowded. · There are almost 1 million spare rooms being paid for by Housing Benefit for working-age, social rented sector tenants, which isn’t affordable when others are living in overcrowded accommodation. On 15th July 2014, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a report, which the Liberal Democrats in Government had pressed for, looking at the implementation of the removal of the spare room subsidy over its first six months. The report raised several concerns including that only a small percentage of affected claimants had downsized and that tenants affected were making cuts to household essentials and incurring debts, with 57% of claimants reporting they were cutting back on what they deemed household essentials. Having considered the findings of the DWP review, my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I took action earlier this year to make the policy fairer for vulnerable people. Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP, published an Affordable Homes Bill. He is seeking to amend the law in relation to the spare room subsidy and to create new tools to improve the ability of local communities to meet their needs for affordable homes. His Bill reflected Liberal Democrat views, having reviewed the DWP report, that the rules should be changed to protect permanently the most vulnerable and ensure that existing tenants arent penalised when they cannot move into smaller accommodation. Andrew George’s Bill, which I supported at Second Reading, has now gone into committee to be considered in detail. I support his Bill but do not support the complete removal of the spare room subsidy. Andrew George’s Bill, if it becomes law, will mean claimants will only pay the under occupancy charge if they had refused a reasonable offer of alternative accommodation. This change will apply only to tenants who signed leases prior to April 2013 (when the removal of the spare room subsidy started). We will continue applying the existing rules to new tenants, but existing tenants who are ‘under occupying’ will not have their housing benefit cut, unless they have been made at least one reasonable offer of alternative social rented accommodation with the correct number of bedrooms.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:37:47 +0000