Church Calls for Rethink on Bedroom Tax

                                                                                                                                    Tuesday July 30 2013

Politicians should rethink new legislation surrounding the 'bedroom tax', according to a Church of Scotland minister.

The Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, Convener of the Church's Church and Society Committee expressed disappointment at the High Court decision today in London to dismiss a challenge by disabled families over new social housing benefit cuts implemented by the Government in April.

Ten families sought a judicial review of the change, introduced in April, arguing that it discrimated unfairly against the disabled.  More than 600,000 people of working age living in social housing homes and judged to have too many bedrooms have had benefits cut as a result of the change which the Government introduced in response to growing social housing waiting lists.

Mrs Foster-Fulton said: “We call for the politicians responsible to rethink, revise and review this legislation which is penalising some of the most at risk members of society through no fault of their own.

 “This benefit cut unfairly targets some of our most vulnerable and asks people already struggling to shoulder an even bigger burden on our behalf.  It is a flawed policy whose implementation has already had devastating results for disabled people.

 “At the recent General Assembly of the Church of Scotland we made a plea for local authorities not to evict people who are making a genuine effort to pay yet who have fallen behind in council tax arrears because of the bedroom tax, today we repeat that call.

 “In many houses extra bedrooms are not extra as they are used for equipment, for respite or for careers who come in. Additionally, it is important to note that for many households there are no smaller properties available to rent. “

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