‘Bedroom tax’ to hit one in five tenants
From April, people with a spare room will have their housing benefit cut in a move intended to tackle “under-occupancy” in social housing.
Scottish Government housing and welfare minister Margaret Burgess said in answer to a parliamentary answer, that 105,000 households are likely to be affected – 18 per cent of the entire social rented sector.
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Hide AdOf these, 83,000 will be “under-occupying” by one bedroom and the remaining 22,000 by two or more rooms.
Ms Burgess said families would lose up to £52 a month – or over £600 a year – and the total amount of housing benefit lost to Scots would be between £60 million and £65m a year.
SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, pictured, a member of Holyrood’s welfare reform committee, said: “I’m absolutely shocked at these figures. In most cases, people can’t just up sticks and move to a smaller property.
“Even in the unlikely scenario that there is a vacant property – people have places of work, they send their kids to the local school, they may live close to relatives – but the Tories expect them to just abandon all of this.”