CHILDREN, foster carers and disabled people in West Cheshire will be hit by the so-called bedroom tax under new Government rules, says a campaigning Labour councillor.
Cllr Carolyn Graham (Blacon) is calling on the Tory leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council to urge government to drop the measure when the matter is debated at the executive in the new year.
She says from next April, hundreds of working age residents in Cheshire West will have their housing benefit reduced if they are deemed to be under-occupying their property under the Welfare Reform Act 2012.
Households deemed to have one spare bedroom will lose 14% of their housing benefit while households deemed to have two or more spare bedrooms will lose 25% of their housing benefit.
Cllr Graham told fellow councillors: “The ‘bedroom tax’ will hit the lower income members of Cheshire West and Chester particularly hard. David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, claims that it will hit teenagers and foster parents the hardest.”
She explained that same sex children up to the age of 15 will be forced to share a bedroom which could have ‘a detrimental effect on studying’.
Foster carers would pay more because foster children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes.
Separated parents who have an extra bedroom so their child can stay overnight would also be hit as the rules stipulate there must be a designated ‘main carer’ for children.
Cllr Graham said there were many pensioners keen to down-size but the council was considering removing people in band D and E social housing from the housing waiting list so many would have no choice other to stay put and lose benefit. The councillor said the rules would also impact couples who sleep in separate bedrooms due to medical conditions.
