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bedroom tax bill
The Affordable Homes Bill that contains measures to take groups of claimants outside the scope of the bedroom tax is currently being debated in the Commons ...
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=15890
You can see a copy of the Bill @ http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/affordablehomes.html
Voted in favour -
[ Edited: 5 Sep 2014 at 01:42 pm by Daphne ]Haven’t read the detail but it doesn’t seem to include exemption for:
bedroom required for overnight carer of a person who is not claimant/partner such as a non-dependent family member (i.e. adult son/dtr).
room size
I’m sure others can identify more groups/issues that should be included.
it doesn’t - only the three specific exemptions in the story
I wouldn’t worry too much about the fine detail of the bill at this stage. It has a very home-made look about it and it will never become law in its present state. What is required here is an amendment of s130A of the SSC&B Act 1992, so that the current very wide and general enabling provisions governing “appropriate maximum HB” are restricted slightly. There should also be a corresponding amendment to the Welfare Reform Act 2012.
If this Bill does manage to progress to a stage where it stands a serious chance of getting enacted, there will be plenty of opportunity to tweak the detail and perhaps extend protection to other groups.
And on the offer of alternative accommodation proposal.
How about: simply abolish the damn thing. It should be possible to write an amending regulation to simply repeal housing benefit regulation 13B. Yes?
Yes, bedroom tax could be watered down or abolished by Regulation: the primary legislation governing maximum HB is in the most general of terms. It is widely believed (wrongly) that the bedroom tax is hard-wired in primary legislation: nothing could be further from the truth, the amendment of s130A of the SSC&B Act by the Welfare Reform Act 2012 merely made it easier for the Secretary of State to prescribe absolutely anything he wants in regulations setting the claimant’s max HB. He might choose to include the bedroom tax in those regs or he might not - it’s up to him.
However, Regulations are not instigated by MPs on the floor of the House - that is why this is being approached through the medium of a Bill. It seems a bit odd to have a Bill proposing exemption from Regulations - as you say, why not just amend the Regs. But that is all the MP concerned can do.
The fact the coalition arent kicking up a stink and going ape suggests to me that this simply wont become law.
Nice distraction though
another cynical way to look at it is that this development could be used by the better together campaign in the scottish referendum to show that the bedroom tax is being challenged and that there isnt a fuss being made of it for that reason?
reports that the Bill has been ‘indefinitely stalled’
Yes, I’ve just seen this as well. On Andrew George’s website, he says:
Following the adjournment of the Affordable Homes Bill, West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly MP, Andrew George, commented:
“The Bill Committee has adjourned until a Money Resolution is provided. I said in Committee that the failure of the Government to provide a Money Resolution was a flagrant abuse of the privilege of executive power and a shocking way to defy the clear will of Parliament.
“I am not taking this lying down. We will try every facility available to us to force the Conservatives to be reasonable and responsible. They are not denying us a Money Resolution to protect the public finances but for narrow tribal reasons.
“This is not the end of it.”
Also from twitter was this:
Bill to (almost) axe #bedroomtax denied ‘money resolution’ (by No.10) after 2nd reading. Not happened since…Zoo Licensing Bill (1981)
should we take heart from the Zoo Bill having made it through?!