Housing Solicitors

The Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee has been told that disabled social housing tenants cannot be exempted from the government’s housing benefit changes.

The committee has heard evidence from Conservative ministers Lord Freud ? the welfare reform minister ? and Housing Minister Kris Hopkins.

Lord Freud told the committee that the government had decided to exempt disabled children from its spare room subsidy removal (SRSR) policy ? also known as the “bedroom tax” ? but could not exempt disabled adults from the tax.

He added that in the case of disabled housing benefit claimants with heavily adapted homes ? or homes where it was clear a disabled tenant could not share a room with their partner ? then ongoing discretionary housing payments (DHPs) should be made by the local authority to help those affected by the bedroom tax financially.

However, he said that it was not possible to define a specific group of disabled adults who might be eligible for exemption from the bedroom tax, on the basis that “they are adults and in control”, whereas children are not.

Out of an estimated 523,000 households affected by the government’s SRSR policy, around two-thirds of them are thought to be disabled.

The website www.disabledgo.com says that research into 183 housing associations by the National Housing Federation (NHF) has also revealed that, by October 2013, approximately two-thirds of tenants had fallen into rent arrears as a result of the bedroom tax ? and one in seven affected by the bedroom tax had been warned that they risked being evicted from their home as a result.

Research by the Papworth Trust has also found that one-third of those being refused DHPs are disabled tenants, www.disabledgo.com reports.

The trust also found that nine out of 10 of those refused DHPs by a local authority were forced to cut back on essentials such as food and household bills to make ends meet.

The research also revealed that, whereas 67% of able-bodied tenants applying for a DGHP were successful, just 59% of disabled tenants were.

Lord Freud told the committee, however, that the government preferred to give councils extra money to fund DHPs for disabled tenants affected by the bedroom tax. In 2013-2014, councils were given an extra £180 million to help people affected by the bedroom tax. This will drop to £165m in 2014-2015.

Chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, Labour MP Dame Anne Begg ? who is disabled ? reacted angrily when Housing Minister Kris Hopkins told the committee that disabled tenants needed a behavioural and cultural change. Mr Hopkins suggested disabled tenants were “set in their ways about the way that they spend and they use their money”.

Dame Anne told the committee that disabled tenants are vulnerable people who need the size of home they have because of circumstances, including ? for example ? a tenant who might not be able to share a bed with their partner because of incontinence issues.

She added that there was real “chaos” in the policy because of a lack of awareness among government of how real people with real problems were affected on a practical level.

Lord Freud said that disabled tenants clearly unable to share a bedroom with a partner should receive long-term DHPs.

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

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