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Call to exempt disabled people from spare bedroom tax
Contact a Family has today joined six other charities to tell the government they must protect disabled people and their carers from the housing benefit size criteria (also known as bedroom tax).
Together they have written a letter to the Chancellor, Rt Hon George Osborne MP and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith MP asking them to use the forthcoming budget to exempt carers and disabled people from the housing benefit size criteria rules - to recognise their contribution and the need to protect them from additional financial hardship. The letter includes a case study from Contact a Family.
Contact a Family calls on government to exempt disabled children from ‘bedroom tax’
Welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith has instructed officials to “look again” at how the “bedroom tax” will affect disabled people, BBC News are reporting.
Mr Duncan Smith said he understood the concerns - he has “already issued an instruction” to officials at the Department of Work and Pensions saying, “let’s look at this again”.
BBC home editor Mark Easton said Mr Duncan Smith recognised that one obstacle to changing the rules was how to identify people who might qualify for exemption. However, if a solution was found, it might be in place before the charge is introduced in April.
Welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith has instructed officials to “look again” at how the “bedroom tax” will affect disabled people, BBC News are reporting.
Mr Duncan Smith said he understood the concerns - he has “already issued an instruction” to officials at the Department of Work and Pensions saying, “let’s look at this again”.
BBC home editor Mark Easton said Mr Duncan Smith recognised that one obstacle to changing the rules was how to identify people who might qualify for exemption. However, if a solution was found, it might be in place before the charge is introduced in April.
There are 2 ways to view this.
1) A listening government
2) A government that did not listen.
Given that LAs have been communicating about these changes for monthes, it looks like that 1000s of social tenants have now been misdavised, including told to look/move to cheaper etc, when it now appears they will now not be effected. I wonder if some poor folks have already given up their homes?
Who would be responsible?
Does that mean that they’ll withdraw the Bulpin appeal to the Supreme Court?
Will it apply to LHA as well?
... cont. P 94
Article in todays Inside Housing saying the DWP won’t be making any changes to the bedroom tax. Link to the article is:
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/dwp-rules-out-changes-to-bedroom-tax/6525867.article
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news on a Friday afternoon.
John
HMG says it is taking an “intelligent”, slow and steady “build and learn” to implementing new policy (specifically, for that quote, UC arrangements)
This can be interpreted by the world-weary as ‘making it up as we go along’. Certainly applies here.
Doesn’t it make you wonder why politicians never learn that something that sounds so simple when announced to the party conference etc will turn out to be a b****y complex expensive administrative nightmare when they (the civil servants / lawyers - “Yes minister”) try to put it into practice?
But I suppose if they ‘simplify’ the benefit system to the point it grinds to a halt they will have achieved their objectives anyway?
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news on a Friday afternoon.
John
No problem. The way I look at it, they will have probably changed their minds again by Monday.
Can someone tell me, who is now in charge?
Does anyone even care anymore, how bad this looks?
Has anybody even the feintest idea, on how now to advise genuine people (with a disability) ringing up worried about losing their homes, over the bedroom tax?
As its Friday afternoon:
not to many years ago a particular SofS DWP was at a regular meeting with us (wearing that hat) to discuss an area of concern we had raised about the administration / decision making of a certain benefit (no prizes for guessing which one caused us the most work then & now). The said SofS came briefed by his senior staff to discuss the issue. He took on board our points (quite genuinely I believe) and summed up (in a candid moment in the discussion) DWP policy [take a few moments to picture the scene] - “its all **** really”.
Probably the most acurate and succinct answer to the question ‘who is really in charge’.
Thanks Peter that made me laugh.
In fact, that could well be the Department’s strapline.
At Tesco “Every Little Helps” and for Cillit Bang, well “Bang! And the Dirt is gone!”. For the DWP: “It’s all **** really”.