Legal News

Delegates to the CWU conference unanimously backed a motion to raise awareness of issues round the government’s “Bedroom Tax”.

The tax was introduced as part of the coalition government’s package of welfare reforms – but many opposed the introduction of the tax, under which housing benefit claimants in social housing who had a spare bedroom had their housing benefit reduced.

CWU members debated the effects of the bedroom tax on working class households and the disabled, with the result that the National Executive Committee (NEC) was instructed by members to work towards increasing awareness of the issues.

The delegates also called for CWU support for groups such as Disabled People against the Cuts and the Anti Bedroom Tax Federation.

To date, the Appeal Court has ruled against groups of disabled claimants, saying that the government’s welfare reforms are lawful.

However, vice-chair of the CWU's Disability Advisory Committee, Elspeth Bettany, put forward the motion asking delegates to “fight this unfair tax”.

Chair of the CWU’s West London branch, Linda Kietz, seconded the motion and said that a lot of people had wrongly been identified as being eligible to pay the bedroom tax.

The CWU says that as many as 40,000 people have been “wrongly identified” as being eligible to pay the bedroom tax – but only 6% of people affected have been able to downsize to smaller one- and two-bedroom local authority properties.

In many areas of the country, smaller properties were sold off to landlords who are now renting them out privately as buy-to-let concerns. Private landlords are thought to be profiting by billions of pounds in housing benefit payments every year.

However, in some areas of England, three-bedroom local authority properties are now lying empty because tenants are unable to afford to rent them if they do not have a large enough family to fill all the bedrooms.

It is estimated around 22% of those affected by the bedroom tax wish to downsize, but are trapped in a property they are unable to afford because of a cut in their housing benefit.

The selling off of council properties to private landlords has added to the shortage of local authority housing across the country – and has also helped fuel the rise in private rents as tenants compete for affordable housing stock.

The CWU also says that an estimated 60,000 people have stopped being carers to disabled people because there is no longer a bedroom available for them at the property where they were providing care.

Speakers at the conference also heard that the bedroom tax was forcing tenants struggling to make ends meet into the hands of payday loan companies.

CWU national officer Carl Maden told delegates at the conference:

"Let's make no bones about it, this is a war that is waged on the working class – especially the old, the sick and the disabled."

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

Duncan Lewis housing solicitors can advise on a wide range of housing matters, including Local Authority housing and housing benefit.

Duncan Lewis is also one of the UK’s leading providers of Legal Aid services and can help rental tenants who are facing unlawful eviction or whose landlords are in disrepair through failing to maintain properties or carry out repairs.

For expert help with housing law – including Landlord & Tenant disputes and housing benefit – contact Duncan Lewis housing solicitors on 020 7923 4020.