Forum Home → Discussion → Housing costs → Thread
Disabled couple unable to share bedroom - told DHP will be refused
A disabled couple who cannot share a bedroom are in a 2 bedrooom private sector property, but have been told by the LA they will not get DHP top up to the 2 bedrooom LHA rate because thay are supposed to use their disability benefits to pay the extra rent.
I understood the HRA challenge in respect of HB entitlement for couples in this situation failed because DHPs are supposed to be avaialble as a remedy - have I understood that correctly? Assuming I have, can they then use disability benefits as a loophole to get out of paying?
In MA (a judicial review case) the court was concerned with the policy behind the bedroom tax and had to decide whether that policy was manifestly without reasonable foundation. The court, taking into account the availability of DHP’s, decided that it was not.
An appeal to a tribunal would be concerned with the merits of a particular case and is to be distinguished from the role of the court of judicial review, including the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court hearing appeals on such matters.
Have a look at the nearlylegal article (below), particularly the comment at the end and the point about a case by case basis approach. However, as noted, FTT’s are now bound and the matter will have to get itself before another UT for further argument, particularly the per incuriam point (the doctrine whereby the decision of a court binds a later court of the same status unless it can be demonstrated that the first decision might have been different if it had been aware of an even earlier decision by a court of equal status – in essence, decisions of the same court, no matter how comprised). Where the per incuriam point is stretched to include argument not put is interesting as some legal scholars don’t believe it can be stretched that far.
And as for the DLA issue. See:
It was already unlawful to tame the mobility component into account.
Very quickly, I think the Southwark case did establish that it was discriminatory to count disability benefits as income for DHP. So there would be room for a challenge on the DHP decision. However, I think Rutherford and MA both established that, given that the justification for discrimination was the DHPs, there is no longer justification for discrimination in the bedroom tax decision if the DHPs are not paid. Ruth