Lord Best digs deep as 'bedroom tax' is watered down again by peers

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Local Government

Government plans to cut the housing benefit of social tenants living in homes with spare rooms was dealt another major defeat in the House of Lords this evening.

Peers voted in favour of a motion tabled by crossbench peer Lord Best who said the penalty should not be imposed on vulnerable groups where they have one spare room and where there is nowhere "suitable" for them to move to.

The groups include disabled people, people not required to work, foster carers and war widows.

Under the Government's plans, 670,000 working age social tenants - two-thirds containing a disabled family member - face losing an average of £14 per week from April 2013 because they are deemed to have one or more additional bedrooms.

Peers voted by 236 to 226 in support of the new amendment, even though MPs had last week rejected a similar amendment - to exempt those with one spare room where no suitable accommodation is found - from the Lords and then imposed financial privilege. This prevents peers from overruling MPs on matters of spending.

Introducing the "less expensive" motion, Lord Best said: "Even though this amended amendment is now providing much less relief than I feel the situation requires, it nevertheless draws a line by mitigating at least some of the hardship for at least some of those on the lowest incomes, and now exclusively for those who are not in a position to go out to work because they act as carers or are disabled themselves."

Lord Freud said the amendment would still cost the Government £100m in 2013-14.

He also reminded peers the Government has announced an increase of £30 million in the discretionary housing payments aimed at some of these categories—those living in adapted properties and foster carers.

He said: "Others in vulnerable situations can also apply to the fund where they have difficulty meeting the shortfall."

He added: "We think that the £30 million could help about 40,000 cases based on the average reduction of £14 a week."

However, Lord Best said he had learnt that the £30 million fund is to be paid for not by the Treasury accepting any reduction in the gains achieved through the bedroom tax but by increasing the tax for the other tenants by another £50 per annum from the previous £13 per week to the new £14 per week.

Lib Dem peer Lord Kirkwood said: "That is news to me, and not particularly welcome news."

Conservative peer Lord Newton of Braintree said the Government was playing a "very dangerous political game, without quite knowing what will hit them when this comes into force".

He said: "For example, a 16 year-old in north London is killed, by a bullet or a knife, by a gangster. His parents have a spare room, and soon after the inquest, somebody turns up and says, 'You’ve got to move. You’ve got a spare room'."

Lord Kirkwood re-emphasised the point made by peers around the lack of housing available for tenants to downsize into. He said: "On 1 April 2013, everyone who is caught by this will be looking for smaller properties which in many cases do not exist."

The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds - who supported the amendment - thanked Lord Best for his persistence and "the way in which he has dug deep into the issues concerned with the bedroom tax".

Lord Freud said the Government was looking to help claimants.

He said: "Those who can must look for a job. Those who are in work can increase earnings by getting more hours. We have discussed taking in a lodger, moving to a smaller property or moving into the private rented sector. Landlords need to have responses. They need to give permission to accept lodgers, identify those affected, communicate changes, train staff, review their allocation policies, look at where the discretionary housing payments need to be made, and so on. There is a range of things on a substantial scale that need to happen, just as the Government have to do a huge amount of work to ensure that they do happen."