Bedroom tax: any luck shedding bedrooms?

Another case where the bedroom tax may be unlawful/ unreasonable is where a parent is going through child custody or access proceedings and needs to keep “spare” bedrooms so they don’t jeopardise their case for getting care of their children. But court proceedings take months, meanwhile the local authority might not be prepared to make up the full shortfall in the housing benefit. The parent could find themselves threatened with possession proceedings by the time their kids come to live with them. [I’ve heard of one parent in this position so far, there may well be others. ]

On the DHP Judicial Review issue, I think it might be worth pointing out that, despite the increased budget for DHPs this year, the overall impact of the welfare reform agenda means that demand for DHPs will almost invariably outstrip the budget by quite a long way this year. As a result, a lot of people who would have been awarded a DHP if they had applied in previous years will be refused this year.

The trouble with cash limited budgets, such as DHPs is that if a JR means that certain categories of people, such as those on DLA, become more likely to get their applications granted, other categories will be less likely to get their applications agreed.

Of course, this does not mean that you shouldn’t take JR action if a Council’s policy is not legal, but be aware that the result will not be to increase the overall level of DHPs granted, the total will just be redistributed.