The bedroom tax is a year old today, shame on Britain

Today see's a year pass since the hated and much talked about bedroom tax came into force. It is 12 months since the government removed its spare room subsidy, dubbed the "bedroom tax" by critics. It is designed to save money and free up under-occupied homes, so what effect has it had? The fact it still exists is a disgrace to be honest lot of hot air as per usual has come from the left from the labour party and even more to the left than them yet the tax still exists this must not continue. "Scrapping the spare room subsidy, which applies to working-age tenants in social housing who are claiming housing benefit, is supposed to ensure that people are not living in bigger homes than they need at the taxpayer's expense - at a time the government is looking for savings from the welfare budget. People deemed to be doing so have a choice: they can move to a smaller home or pay more rent. Polls show the government's welfare policies are popular with the public. The problem is that finding a smaller home in the social housing sector is not easy - there is a lack of availability - so most people affected have had to find more money. Benefit cuts In May 2013, a month after the "bedroom tax" was introduced, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimated that 660,000 people would face a reduction in their housing benefit because they had at least one spare room. By November, the deparrtment produced new figures showing that 498,000 were affected by the changes. This is a fall of 50,000 from the initial estimate, which the DWP attributes to people taking action, such as moving to a smaller home, finding work, increasing their earnings, and/or discontinuing their claim for housing benefit. Channel 4 News asked the DWP what had happened to all social housing tenants living in homes with excess bedrooms. Were they paying more rent? How many had moved? The DWP said it did not have any published data which could answer these questions. 'Little research' An impact assessment drawn up by the DWP in 2012, before the policy was implemented, said "there is little research that provides an indication about the possible behavioural impacts on claimants in the social rented sector following the introduction of the size criteria". But it added: "DWP estimates that the impact of claimants moving to smaller accommodation, (as opposed to remaining in their current accommodation), is likely to be broadly neutral in terms of the impact on benefit savings." This suggests that although the government could not be sure how people would react when the spare room subsidy was removed, it expected to make most of its savings from people staying put and paying more rent rather than moving to smaller, cheaper accommodation. The government's rationale is that before the reforms, a million spare bedrooms were being paid for by the taxpayer, despite the fact that there are a quarter of a million households in England living in overcrowded social housing and another 1.7 million on waiting lists. Then there is the small matter of austerity, with ministers expecting to save £1bn over the next two years. People caught out who decide to stay put, or cannot find a smaller home, face a 14 per cent reduction in their housing benefit if they have a spare room, or 25 per cent if they have two or more spare rooms. So what has happened since April 2013? The National Housing Federation (NHF), which represents two thirds of housing association homes in England, published a survey in February which showed that two thirds of households hit by the changes were in rent arrears, with one in seven at risk of eviction. The Ipsos MORI survey of 183 housing associations found that more than a third of those in arrears were in this position because they could not afford to pay the "bedroom tax". 'Misery and hardship' According to David Orr, chief executive of the NHF, removal of the spare room subsidy is "heaping misery and hardship on already struggling families". Although the government argues that people affected can move, "we know there aren't enough smaller homes in England for these families to move into". The DWP is aware of these shortages. Its 2012 impact assessment said there was a surplus of three-bedroom homes and a lack of one-bedroom properties, which "could mean that there are insufficient properties to enable tenants to move to accommodation of an appropriate size even if tenants wished to move and landlords were able to facilitate this movement". The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, says the "limited opportunities" for tenants to downsize is driving up local authorities' costs. The government is helping people affected by its welfare reforms with its discretionary housing payments fund, which allocates money to councils, and the LGA says the end of the spare room subsidy is "the biggest cause of financial hardship among those applying for help". It also argues that demand for help "is significantly outstripping the money the government has made available to councils to mitigate the changes in some areas". In August, a study commissioned by the LGA estimated that benefit cuts, combined with a shortage of jobs and affordable homes, would mean that "four out of every five of those households are likely to need some form of assistance from their council to help them cope with the reduction in welfare". with extracts from Channel 4.com http://www.channel4.com/news/bedroom-tax-year-spare-room-subsidy-social-housing

The working poor

“There are more working families living in poverty in the UK than non-working families for the first time since the birth of the welfare state, according to a new study. A recent report by a development charity attributes the figures to a sustained and “unprecedented” fall in living standards that has hit UK households, in which average incomes have fallen by 8% since a peak in 2008. As a result, around 2 million people have an income that would have been considered below the poverty line in 2008. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that according to the current definition, the figure is increasing as 500,000 more working families live below the poverty line than last year. 6.7 million families with adults in employment meet the worrying criteria compared with a combined 6.3 million of retired and unemployed families. There is also a smaller but growing number of people living on incomes below the value of out-of-work benefits in very deep poverty. The JRF said 400,000 families have suffered from a combination of benefit cuts from the bedroom tax, and council tax benefit. Two thirds of these families were already classified as living in poverty. The JRF also found positive changes, including an improvement in the labour market with falling unemployment and underemployment and, improvements in health and education outcomes forecast for the future. There have also been major shifts in which groups are experiencing poverty, with the number of pensioners in poverty at a 30-year low. Julia Unwin, chief executive of the charity, said efforts to reduce poverty must be “strengthen[ed]” and that for the poorest families “improving pay and prospects remain a mirage”. She added:"Recent economic improvements do not outweigh the damage inflicted during the downturn to the incomes of the poorest people across the country. "Our report demonstrates there has been progress in some areas and the tide has turned on employment, but this not been matched by improvements in wages. The largest group in poverty are working age adults without dependent children - 4.7 million people are in this situation, the highest on record. Half of working families in poverty have an adult paid below the living wage. It also found that job insecurity is increasingly common, with one in six members of the workforce claiming Jobseekers' Allowance at some point in the last two years. Median incomes in the UK recorded in the 2011 tax year are now, in real terms, just below what they were in 2001 - £367 a week compared with £368 - the Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report showed. Plummeting incomes over the last two years has wiped out all the gains of the previous decade, the JRF said. Families living in poverty are defined as those with income below 60% of median income for that year. Peter Kenway, director at NPI and an author of the report, said: "Poorer members of society are under more pressure than at any time since the birth of the welfare state. "The value of the safety net for working age adults is now sinking steadily. The support on offer to people who fall on hard times is increasingly threadbare, with benefit levels on a downward spiral. "A strong safety net to catch those who fall is vital for social mobility - millions are saved by it every year even now - yet no leading politician will defend it."” This all comes in the same week MP’s are due to vote on plans to increase their salaries by 11%. All in this together are we ??? With extracts from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/millions-of-families-living-in-poverty-despite-being-in-employment-says-new-study-8991403.html

Labour to scrap the bedroom tax? I’ll believe it when I see it

So Ed Miliband will announce this weekend that a future labour government will look to scrap the bedroom tax which I have attacked and talked about on this very blog. Labour has said it will reverse controversial changes to housing benefit if it wins the next election. Ed Miliband said the cut affecting social tenants in England, Scotland and Wales deemed to have spare bedrooms was unfair. Labour aims to fund its change by blocking tax cuts for businesses. Critics called the cut a "bedroom tax". The government argues it ends "spare room subsidies" unavailable in the private sector and that the £23bn-a-year housing benefit bill must be cut. The announcement comes with the Labour Party conference about to start in Brighton. 'Not working' Since April, social housing tenants deemed to have spare rooms have either had to pay more in rent or move somewhere smaller. For months Labour has argued the change is wrong, unfair and penalises disabled people in particular, but had not committed itself to reverse the policy if it was in power after the election. But Mr Miliband has now said the change would be paid for by scrapping a tax break for hedge funds and the Treasury's new shares-for-rights scheme. I would urge all supporters and all who oppose the bedroom tax to take this latest news with a pinch of salt. A huge one given Labours current agreement with the cuts agenda who say they feel the cuts are too far and too fast yet the cuts would continue under a future labour government. If the labour party are genuine which I am suspicious about of course given labours previous record in gov and in opposition in sacking many workers in local government. I will believe any scrap when I see it. Labour has pledged to do things in the past including renationalising the railways and still it is in private hands despite all the conference motions and pledges you could muster yet still nothing changes. If labour is genuinely against this policy called the bedroom tax then we should not see any evictions or any threats of an eviction from any labour council up and down the land. We will see if this happens or not. Of course I would welcome a labour party pledge to scrap the bedroom tax but I would urge caution I have seen similar pledges from labour in the past only to be left disappointed. Let’s not give up on the solidarity acting of defending people in their homes who are still under threat of eviction. We should go where no labour party member will in defending people in their homes offering solidarity and physical help as and where it is needed including human shields to prevent evictions. Despite this pledge reality goes on for many facing hardship from the bedroom tax. This will not change anything this next week for many a militant organisation is still needed to fight off the bedroom tax. No complacency can be afforded now a stepping up of all campaigns ageist the bedroom tax must commence forth now with the call now labour are promising to scrap this so lets not waste anytime and fight to keep people in their homes and safe from eviction. The bedroom tax is still not gone and we must not rest on our laurels we must keep up the pressure on all councils including labour councils to oppose the bedroom tax and all forms of it.

Bedroom tax legal challenge dismissed in high court wall of resistance needed !

Today a high court ruling on the much hated bedroom tax was heard below i republish a article from todays Guardian on the matter. It is clear that legal route is one of th ways of defending ourselves but we cannot rely on the bourgeois courts and law to protect us. We must urgently organise mass resistance and solidarity in our communities including anti eviction armies to defend people under threat . "Ten families have lost their attempt to overturn the government's "bedroom tax" on the basis that it was highly discriminatory and contrary to article 14 of the European convention of human rights. Two judges ruled that courts should not "micromanage" policy decisions and that the provision of discretionary housing payments granted local authorities enough flexibility to deal with shortfalls in rent arrears. The new housing benefit rules took affect from April and mean that thousands of families have had to switch accommodation to meet either a 14% or 25% reduction in housing subsidies depending on whether they have one or two extra rooms. The 10 families, which include someone with spina bifida, brought the case to the high court in May arguing that the policy – which reduces financial subsidy for those considered to have one or more extra bedrooms than required – discriminated against those with disability. They have said that they will appeal against ]\the decision. However in their ruling, Lord Justice Law and Justice Cranston came down strongly against the secretary of state's inability to have set down other regulations following from a previous housing benefit challenge to payments made to families with disabled children in the private sector. In that case in March last year, judges founds that size critieria for housing benefit in the private sector could discriminate against disabled children who needed a bedroom each because of health needs. In their ruling today, judges said that the secretary of state was relying on "departmental circular" to implement policy ordered by the courts in March last year which was not sufficient. "The secretary of state has no business considering whether to introduce regulations to conform housing benefit provision with the judgment in Gorry. His is obliged to do so." In a statement from one of the three solicitors firms bringing the cases, Richard Stein from the human rights team at Leigh Day said: "This is a most disappointing result. We will be seeking an urgent appeal to the court of appeal. "Many people with disabilities including our clients may lose their homes unless the law is changed. Their lives are already difficult enough without the fear of losing their accommodation which has been provided specifically to meet their exceptional needs."

Effects of vicious bedroom tax worst than first thought, axe the tax!

As the bedroom tax’s effects grow and grow like an out of control beast the effects are appalling. Worse than many first thought. The National Housing Federation said today that the effects of the bedroom tax are far worse than even it expected. The group said rent arrears have soared and large properties are lying vacant as people refuse to move in. The cruel tax sees housing benefits cut if homes are deemed "under-occupied" despite a perilous shortage of smaller council properties for people to move into. "The impact is at least as bad as we had anticipated, in many respects even worse," federation chief executive David Orr told the BBC. "What we've seen are really bad effects on individuals, people whose lives have been turned upside down, who are very frightened about the future." But out-of-touch Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith insisted that cash-grabbing policy had been a success. The millionaire minister said it showed what a mess Labour had left the benefits system in. He arrogantly told his opposite number Liam Byrne that Labour should either commit to reversing the policy or "stop moaning about it." The shadow work and pensions secretary said Mr Duncan Smith must be "living on a different planet," pointing out that rent arrears had soared by 300 per cent and there were empty houses across Britain. Housing association chiefs agreed. Teeside's Coast and Country Housing boss Iain Sim said: "The numbers of empty homes we've got to let are increasing significantly. "People are now telling us that because of bedroom tax, they can no longer afford to move into the bigger family homes, and as a consequence of that we're getting fewer lettings and more empty houses." Clearly the labour party won’t defend you from this vicious cruel tax which is so anti poor it is dripping with class contempt from the tories. Labour cannot pledge to scrap this tax and thus should not receive our support. If labour councils refuse to pledge not to evict those who have fallen into arrears then I believe that people should stand against them as TUSC and make it clear we will take you on in your own back yard and threaten your seat if you don’t back down. Labour councillors who are more often than not career driven will have to respond when their career is under threat. A serious campaign to protect tenants is needed similar to the bailiff busting army during the poll tax. Phone trees are needed to make sure vicious councils be them Tory or labour tries to evict people for inability to pay this tax. We need to make this tax unworkable, slow the whole process down disrupt it anyway we can and try and force this tax to be scrapped. If labour won’t then TUSC will pledge to scrap the bedroom tax and not evict anyone from their homes. This should be basic working class solidarity if labour won’t oppose it then we will oppose labour.

7th Annual NSSN Conference: Building the rank and file, planning the way forward

From http://shopstewards.net/2013/06/7th-annual-nssn-conference-building-the-rank-and-file-planning-the-way-forward/?fb_source=pubv1 There may well have been a pause in struggle on the part of some trade union leaders, but there has been no pause in the struggle for ordinary trade unionists and campaigners. This was the key point made by Linda Taaffe, Secretary of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) in her opening address to the NSSN’s seventh annual conference this Saturday. The NSSN conference successfully brought together the key activists from these struggles in a packed hall at the Camden Centre. Among the many topics for discussion and debate was the task of ending the ‘pause’ in struggle at the top of the trade union movement and making the demand of a 24 hour general strike a reality. This discussion was given practical form by the action plan introduced by NSSN Chair Rob Williams and passed unanimously by the delegates present. The key points of the action plan were an NSSN rally at the TUC Congress at Bournemouth on September 8th followed by a lobby of Congress. In the run up to the Congress NSSN supporters were encouraged to pass motions in support of a 24 hour general strike in their shop stewards committees, union branches, anti-cuts group and trades councils. Each region of the NSSN was encouraged to hold regional meetings to build for the lobby of the TUC and popularize the call for a general strike. Finally the action plan pledged to energetically build the TUC demonstration outside the Tory Party Conference in Manchester on September 29th and organise an NSSN contingent on it which will march behind a banner calling for a 24 hour general strike. In moving the action plan, Rob Williams said it was a scandal that almost 12 months on from the TUC congress voting for the Prison Officers Association (POA) motion calling on the TUC to consider the practicalities of a General Strike, precious little action in that direction had occurred. In his speech Rob made clear that the NSSN supports all tactics in the struggle but the NSSN was unapologetic in its view that mass strike action led by the trade unions must be central in defeating the austerity drive of the government and the employers. In this way the mass organisations of the workers movement could draw behind them all of those whose lives have been ripped apart by cuts. In Brazil and Turkey the entry of ordinary people into struggle had shifted society to the left in those countries. This was a glimpse, he said, of the effect a 24 hour General strike could have in this country. Working people would feel their collective power and have their sights risen to what is possible when a mass movement confronts an intransigent government. The theme of the general strike was addressed by many of the platform speakers and by activists making contributions from the floor. John Reid, London Regional Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) brought fraternal greeting from his union. He told the audience that the RMT conference reaffirmed its support for the NSSN and for the idea of a General Strike. Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA and mover of the general strike motion at the TUC Congress pointed out that his union had taken more industrial action in the 19 years since their trade union rights were stripped from them by the then Tory government than in the previous 70 years. The willingness of the POA to defy anti-trade union laws in defence of their members is an example to other trade union leaders hesitating to throw their full support behind the general strike call. Donald McDougall, secretary of the Unite Honda branch in Swindon added his support to the campaign for a general strike in a short but powerful speech from the floor. Martin Powell-Davies, from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) national executive reported on the success of the joint strike action by teachers in the north-west on 27th June. Teachers from the NUT and NASUWT took strike action in 22 Local Authorities. This was an excellent start, Martin said, but he insisted it must be the beginning of wider action. The strike in the north-west suffered a complete media black out. A national strike by teachers would not be so easy for the media to ignore, he said. Martin ended his contribution with a point that applies to teachers and the general strike equally; “We need to be out together to win” The need for national action was made clear by Communication Workers Union General Secretary Billy Hayes. To big applause he informed conference 96% of his members had voted to oppose privatisation of Royal Mail. A vote to pursue a pay offer got 99% in favour. Billy remarked on the ‘coincidence’ that three days after the vote Royal Mail management approached the CWU to open up talks on a pay offer! The CWU now has a number of live industrial disputes around issue of privatisation. Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) reviewed the course of industrial struggle since November 30th 2011. Commenting on the decision of the GMB and Unison to settle the pensions dispute he said it was, at best, a terrible tactical decision or at worst a deliberate attempt to knock the stuffing out of the November 30th action. PCS has been forced to soldier on alone in the interim. Chris pointed out that a variety of trade unions are preparing action in the autumn. To big applause he declared that all unions taking action should get in a room together and begin planning a coordinated response to austerity. The conference did not solely discuss the general strike though. There was also a wide range of speakers fresh from local industrial disputes or community campaigns. Michael Ologun, Unite shop steward from the Equinox Housing group related his workmates struggle against 25% cuts, including strike action. In a sober but positive balance sheet of the strike Michael made the point that their action had won a deferral of the cuts. Michael pointed out this action was in the context of a workplace that had been largely unorganised not too long ago. Using their success in organising in the workplace and standing up to management, Michael urged the conference to get active in their workplace, telling them; “You can make a difference”. Paddy Brennan, convenor at the Honda factory in Swindon brought greetings from his workplace. In his speech he thanked the NSSN for their support during his successful campaign against victimisation at the plant. Steve North, branch secretary of Salford Unison (like all members of that union, speaking in a personal capacity) asked conference to support upcoming industrial action by Future Directions staff in Rochdale over cuts to pay and terms and conditions. He also read out a message of support from Gearge Tapp. George is a longstanding supporter of the NSSN who was a steward at last year’s conference. For many years George has campaigned tirelessly against blacklisting in the building industry. During this campaigning George was hit by a car in a hit and run incident on a picket line and seriously injured. George’s long term recovery prevented him from attending this year’s conference but he was keen to ensure he had a presence in spirit at the conference. Supporters of the NSSN wish George a speedy recovery and a return to his vital role in the struggle against blacklisting. In a moving personal account Hannah Roche related the harsh conditions facing young workers in call centres Helen Pattison from the Youth Fight for Jobs initiative ‘Sick of Your Boss’ reported on the campaigns work in organising young people in the retail sector in cooperation with Unite. The conference had a distinctly international feel to it. The closing plenary had a speaker from the radical French trade union federation SUD. However it was events in Turkey that were at the centre of discussion at the conference. NSSN supporters Steve Hedley, Assistant General Secretary of the RMT and Martin Powell-Davies visited Taksim Square as solidarity delegates from their respective unions. In a commission chaired by Martin Powell-Davies, Steve Hedley gave an eye witness account of the brutal crackdown on protestors in Taksim and Gezi Park on 12th June. He was joined by Oktay Sahbaz from the Turkish and Kurdish group Day-Mer. Oktay also spoke at the conference closing plenary. Day-Mer has been one of the key organisers of the almost daily solidarity protests in London with the movement in Turkey. Oktay thanked the NSSN for their support and participation in those protests. Oktay gave a brief history of developments in Turkey that led up to the explosion in popular protest. In a wide ranging speech Oktay emphasised that the movement has helped to break down divisions between Turks, Kurds, Alevi’s and other minorities. Of particular importance has been a new sense of solidarity between ordinary Turkish workers and Kurdish people through their shared experience of state brutality. The recent shooting of Kurdish demonstrators has triggered an unprecedented wave of solidarity and protests in Turkish cities. The Bedroom Tax has provoked one of the biggest grass roots campaigns since the coming to power of the coalition. NSSN supporters have thrown themselves into organising anti-bedroom tax campaigns across the country. A special session on fighting the tax was well attended. Tommy Sheridan from the Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax campaign gave a powerful speech on the inspiring work of the campaign north of the border. In his opening remarks Tommy articulated the feelings of many working class people on the bedroom tax, which explains opposition to the tax goes far beyond those affected. “I am not personally affected by the bedroom tax but I am offended by the bedroom tax”. Tommy condemned the hypocrisy of politicians who make the very poorest in society homeless while they live in tax payer funded mansions! To a standing ovation Tommy pledged that the campaign in Scotland would meet any threat to evict people with “a wall of human solidarity”. State harassment has been a feature of life for labour movement activists as long as the movement has existed. This has been underlined this year with revelations of state collusion with blacklisting and police infiltration of labour movement organisations. Chris Baugh reminded conference that the state is very well aware of the importance of shop stewards and activists in defending the working class. It is the reason, he said why the state spends so much time harassing and spying on them. This point was underlined by Lois Austin in her speech at the closing plenary. Lois is the former chair of Youth Against Racism in Europe, an organisation that played a key role in driving the BNP out of Tower Hamlets and fighting for justice for Steven Lawrence in the early 90’s. So effective was YRE that it attracted the attention of the security forces and was targeted by police spy Peter Francis. In her speech Lois rejected the idea that this was the work of ‘a few bad apples’. Spying on peaceful political organisations was state policy. She called for a wide ranging inquiry that included those who had been spied upon. If that was not forthcoming from the state, Lois said, those effected should look to set up their own inquiry. In contrast to other gatherings of activists the discussion at the NSSN conference was not just about organising the opposition to austerity, important as that is. There was also a number of important contributions on the alternative. Padraig Mulholland, President of the Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA) brought fraternal greetings from the NIPSA General Council. In his speech he said NIPSA was producing educational material for its members exploring the causes of the economic crisis. A central part of this material will explain that crisis is an organic part of the capitalist system. Steve Gillan responded to the governments plans to build a super prison by declaring; “Rather than spend £200 million on building a new super prison in Wales I’d rather see £200 million spent on helping to keep people out of prison” A perfect illustration of the different approach of the labour movement to that of the government and employers. A number of speakers explained that attacks on the conditions of working people were inevitable under capitalism. The struggle in the workplaces and the communities against day to day attacks are important but it must also include a political expression and a socialist alternative. This was a theme of the conference from the outset as John Reid reported that the RMT conference affirmed that it would use all its resources to campaign for the replacement of the capitalist system with a democratic socialist system. By the end of the conference delegates went away armed with the ideas and tactics to change our movement in order to change our society.

Axe the Bedroom tax know your rights

As people find themselves in greater and greater debts due to rising cost of living and the new cruel bedroom tax which was brought in in April. It is called the bedroom tax and not what the Tories prefer a spare room subsidy. Technically that is what it is but it very much is a bedroom tax and much like the poll tax campaign we must call things by their proper names the poll tax was not the community charge and thus so people know what they are up against. So far in meetings and campaigns we are seeing a trickle in England anyway of people wishing to join the fight back against this vicious tax. Whilst in Scotland the campaign against this tax is taking off with an anti bedroom tax federation set up with local steering committees in most areas now. The socialist party is taking the bedroom tax very seriously whilst recognising this is not the poll tax as not everyone is affected and also that we can’t say to people don’t pay it’s not as simple s that and is a dangerous strategy to pose as they will only find other ways of getting the money off you and could eventually lead to evictions. Below I republish the supplement in the socialist this week a guide to your rights and what you can do right here right now to fight this cold cruel tax. The bedroom tax has sparked fury. Thousands have protested against people being forced out of their homes or robbed of 14% or 25% of their housing benefit by millionaire Con-Dem ministers, many of whom have spare houses, never mind spare bedrooms. But we can stop this attack! Twenty years ago a mass campaign defeated Thatcher's hated poll tax. Led by the Socialist Party's predecessor, Militant, a mass campaign of non-payment made the poll tax unviable. While the bedroom tax is different in many ways, one thing is clear - if we get organised we can defeat it. ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Can't pay - will stay! No evictions! "I've cut back on every little thing I have. I'm eating one meal a day and not putting the heating on, all so I can pay this tax. £12 a week is everything when you can only afford £30 a fortnight on shopping before paying the bedroom tax." The bedroom tax's impact on people's lives has been devastating. The case of Stephanie Botrill, who killed herself after losing £20 a week from her housing benefit, illustrated the human cost of the bedroom tax. Stephanie wrote to her son before committing suicide: "Don't blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the government." The bedroom tax affects 660,000 of the poorest households in Britain, many of them already suffering as a result of other Con-Dem cuts. £500 million is being stolen from housing benefit, with the tenant responsible for making up the shortfall. How is it possible for people already living in dire poverty to pay? It is not and the figures prove it. Anti-eviction army Housing Associations revealed in May that thousands of their tenants had immediately fallen into rent arrears as a result of the bedroom tax. In Liverpool the Riverside Group said 50% of their 6,000 affected tenants have not paid anything in bedroom tax. Only a quarter paid the full amount in the first month. Wakefield in Yorkshire said 42% had underpaid their rent. In Glasgow 66% of Housing Association tenants have under paid. What these figures clearly show is that the bedroom tax cannot be afforded. Moreover, many tenants who have tried to pay will not be able to sustain payment. We need to build an anti-eviction army which will oppose tooth and nail any attempts to evict tenants as a result of bedroom tax arrears. Just as the 'bailiff busters' successfully prevented thousands of attempts by bailiffs to take poll tax non-payers' goods, we can build a mass campaign to prevent evictions. Build mass campaigns But threats of eviction by councils and Housing Associations for bedroom tax arrears are still at an early stage. There are many things tenants can do to defeat the tax now. All tenants should know their rights and how they can disrupt the process of their own housing benefit being cut, but this must be supplemented by building mass campaigns to scrap the bedroom tax for all. This guide briefly explains your rights as a tenant and gives suggestions on how to build an anti-bedroom tax campaign in your area. We demand: • Scrap the bedroom tax and write-off all the debt • Defend all those who cannot or will not pay • No evictions for rent arrears due to the tax or austerity cuts. Build an anti-eviction army. • End all cuts - tax the bankers and the billionaires not bedrooms • For a programme of new council house building to meet social need • Build a mass movement against austerity starting with a 24-hour general strike organised by the trade unions ________________________________________ Q&A: Bedroom Tax How do I set up a campaign? Book a room in a community centre, school or local pub for a public meeting. Print some leaflets and go door-to-door in areas where there are lots of council or housing association homes. Put up posters in the local shops. Contact us if you would like a speaker or help with leaflets. At many local meetings people have come along ready to help organise. If this is the case ask for volunteers for a steering committee to organise the campaign. Contact us for details of other local groups in your area. You can then come together to organise town-wide work - including organising mass lobbies of your council. See contact details below. What happens now? Everyone affected by the bedroom tax has been sent a letter by the council telling them by how much their housing benefit will be cut. Tenants can ask the council to look again at the decision. You need to do this in writing within one month of receiving the 'benefit decision notice' which says that your benefit is being cut. If you are still not happy after the council has looked again, you can appeal the decision. Again, this should be done in writing within one month of receiving the council's response to your request for them to look again. This is free and you have a legal right to do it. Model appeal letters are available from us or from your local anti-bedroom tax campaign. Longer than a month since you received your benefit decision? It is still worth writing a letter of appeal, explaining why you have not done so earlier (you have been ill, away, in distress, you didn't realise you could appeal...). While no guarantee for success, some common reasons for appeal include: • The bedroom is less than 70 square feet. This means that, according to the 1985 Housing Act, it is a box-room and not suitable to use as a bedroom. • Due to you or your partner/dependent's documented medical condition the other bedroom is used for therapeutic activities/medical equipment. • You use the other bedroom for fostering purposes. • Your children/dependents use the bedroom as part of the custody agreement. • The use of the other bedroom is for regularly visiting family/guests. • You have a very small kitchen, and the landlord has mistakenly designated your dining room as a bedroom. • You use your other bedroom for storage of your possessions. Should I apply for the "discretionary housing fund" for help? Yes. This is a small pot of money that councils have to help tenants. You should apply regardless of whether you think you will get it. An application for a payment can be used as evidence that you have tried to gain access to money to help with the bedroom tax - this can also help delay eviction proceedings. • 338% increase in applications for discretionary housing payments since the bedroom tax was introduced Should I move to the private sector? In general, no. This is even more expensive than most council or Housing Association properties, tenancies are usually short-term and insecure, and housing is often of poor quality. If you genuinely want to move to a smaller council or Housing Association home ask your landlord to put you on a list. However, councils and HAs simply don't have the smaller properties available to house people affected by the bedroom tax. For the vast majority it's a case of Can't Pay - Will Stay. Should I take out a Direct Debit to the council or social landlord? No. A Direct Debit allows the council to increase the money it takes from your account to cover your bedroom tax and you will have less money for food, bills, etc. • 19% increase in debt of tenants reported by one Housing Association What can my landlord do to pressurise me to pay bedroom tax? Initially, councils and Housing Associations are phoning, writing to and visiting tenants who cannot pay all their rent as a result of the deductions from their housing benefit. If your landlord arranges a visit to your home, ask other anti-bedroom tax campaigners to come round and support you. Landlords are hoping to apply pressure on tenants to make a payment arrangement to prevent a big loss in rental income. Social landlords need to understand that people cannot pay the bedroom tax - and we are not the enemy. They should stand by their tenants and demand the scrapping of the bedroom tax. It is worthwhile explaining to your landlord why you cannot pay the bedroom tax, that your income and expenditure leaves no room for the bedroom tax to be paid. It may be worthwhile putting this in writing to your landlord (make sure to keep a copy of the letter). This explanation can help later on if the landlord attempts to push for an eviction. What happens if I can't or won't pay the bedroom tax? Letters will be sent telling you that you are in rent arrears. Don't ignore these letters - contact the council and your local Welfare Rights team and Citizens Advice Bureau, community legal teams, etc. Even if you can't access legal advice, don't ignore the letters, write to your landlord and tell them you can't pay and the reasons why. If you can't get an appointment, or they give you bad advice (ie telling you that you just 'have to pay') make sure you get in touch with your local anti-bedroom tax campaign. Keep all letters you are sent, and copies of any replies you send to your landlord. These can be very important if you have to argue your case in court. Councils and Housing Associations can also try for a deduction of benefit for rent arrears. There is a standard practice of a deduction for rent arrears of around £3.65 a week from benefit. We demand all bedroom tax debt be written off and that the Con-Dem government bails out councils who refuse to implement it, including refusing to chase arrears that arise from austerity cuts. Will I be evicted? Court proceedings: At a certain point court proceedings can be used for debt recovery. However, councils and Housing Associations almost always have to do a number of things before they can take you to court. They have to: • Contact you and try to reach an agreement with you to repay the debt gradually. There is a rent arrears protocol which they are expected to follow. • Help you with housing benefit problems if you are under 18 or 'vulnerable' • Agree not to start court proceedings if you keep to an agreement to repay the debt gradually • If they do decide to take you to court they have to give you written notice of their intention to do so prior to any court hearing • Once the period of the notice has expired the court then has to decide if the landlord has 'grounds for possession' • Only then can they take you to court to try and obtain a 'possession order' • If it is granted you are sent a written copy of a 'defence form' which you have 14 days to fill out. • The case then goes to court. It is important that you attend the court and put your side of the case. Remember to take evidence with you to help your case, the letters you have written to the landlord, the steps you have taken to cover the reduction in your housing benefit, etc. Whatever happens attend the court hearing! • At the court hearing the judge needs to consider whether a ground for possession has been satisfied, is it 'reasonable' to grant a possession order? Is it 'proportionate' to grant a possession order? In most cases the courts will follow the procedure above. This will be the case for all 'secure tenants'. If you are a council tenant you will have a secure tenancy (except for a very few new council tenants). If your property used to be council, but has been transferred to a Housing Association, you may still have a secure tenancy. However, most Housing Association tenants have 'assured tenancies' which give you fewer rights than secure tenancies. Most assured tenants threatened with eviction will be treated like secure tenants in court. Some Housing Associations have occasionally used something called 'Ground 8' in the courts against assured tenants. This takes away the judge's discretion and makes a possession order virtually automatic if you have eight weeks or more of arrears (for 100% of the rent so that is at least 32 weeks of bedroom tax arrears). Take advice urgently if they try to evict on Ground 8. If you are a housing association tenant a first step for your campaign should be a lobby of the Housing Association board demanding that they join the eleven Housing Associations that have already pledged to rule out using Ground 8. Remember: It costs an average of £6,000 to evict someone. That is more than 200 weeks of bedroom tax rent arrears. For this reason, and also because it would be so unpopular, councils and Housing Associations are hesitating to take this road, a mass campaign can stop them from doing so. What should I do if I get a letter saying my landlord is going to take me to court? If you are threatened with a court hearing get in touch with us or the local anti-bedroom tax campaign immediately. We can give you advice but also, if you wish, organise protests against court action being taken. This is the best way to prevent evictions. During the poll tax battle mass protests at courts hearing poll tax cases helped make the court system unworkable. If councils try to take tenants to court we need to mobilise a similar movement against evictions. In other words, a request for an eviction by a landlord is not a straightforward process and can be stalled or overturned. The campaign can and will ensure that no one goes to court on their own. We will seek legal advice to give guidance and support for you as well. Above all, even if an eviction order was granted anti-bedroom tax campaigners would mobilise to physically prevent bailiffs from removing a tenant from their home as a result of being unable to pay the bedroom tax. How do we fight this? Join the anti-bedroom tax campaign today. Massive pressure must be put on councils and Housing Associations to write off all debt arising from the bedroom tax. We will continue to lobby, protest and demonstrate to demand the politicians act to stop these attacks on the poorest. This is a fight we can win. If we stick together we can defeat the bedroom tax, all the cuts and bring down this rotten government of the rich. See socialistparty.org.uk for regular reports and updates on the anti-bedroom tax campaigns ________________________________________ What can councils do? Councils can refuse to implement the bedroom tax and demand that all Housing Associations in their area do the same thing. We call on councils to: ■ Refuse to implement the bedroom tax! ■ Use their borrowing powers and any reserves to assist tenants while working with the campaign to build a mass movement to defeat the tax. ■ Make a clear pledge not to evict any tenant in arrears due to the bedroom tax or as a result of austerity. ■ Demand that Housing Associations in the area (which often have councillors on their boards) pledge never to use Ground 8 to force through evictions, and pledge not to evict tenants for bedroom tax arrears or other arrears as a result of austerity. ■ Write off bedroom tax arrears and/or 're-designate' properties as having fewer bedrooms to prevent the effects of the bedroom tax. ■ A number of councils and Housing Associations have carried out some of these measures. Nine councils - mainly in areas where bedroom tax campaigns are strong - have promised no evictions for a year and several landlords - including Leeds council - have promised to re-designate homes. These partial measures show campaigning works, but we need to keep the pressure on councils to do more. Labour claim to oppose the bedroom tax, yet Labour councils are implementing it. If they all refused to do so the tax would be unworkable. Anti-bedroom tax campaigners should stand for the council Labour claims to oppose the bedroom tax but Labour councils are implementing it, and Labour nationally have refused to pledge to repeal it if they win the general election. We need councillors who will really stand up for us. Next May the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition will be bringing together campaigners against cuts to stand as many anti-cuts candidates as possible in the local elections. Standing candidates in the local elections is an effective way of building the campaign against councillors that are implementing the bedroom tax. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is an electoral alliance that stands candidates against all cuts and privatisation. It involves the RMT transport workers' union, leading members of other trade unions including the PCS, NUT and POA and socialist organisations including the Socialist Party. www.tusc.org.uk ________________________________________ Join the Socialists The bedroom tax is only one attack in the blizzard of cuts bombarding working class people. Reductions in council tax benefits will force more people onto the breadline in Foodbank Britain. But while most of us tighten our belts a few households and families are gorging on a feast of riches. The combined wealth of Britain's richest 1,000 people increased by almost 5% to £414 billion in 2012! Those households and major corporations have all been given a generous tax cut - helping them to get even richer. No question - this is a government for the millionaires not the millions. But potentially we have the strength of millions to stop them! The bedroom tax makes it clearer than ever - the trade union movement must urgently set the date for a 24-hour general strike against austerity. This would be the most effective way of channelling the burning anger at the government into a movement capable of stopping the cuts. If you agree with us - join the socialists! We stand for a different way of running things - where the wealth of society is used to provide people with the things we need - decent homes, jobs, a good education and NHS. We want a society for the 99% not the 1%. That is why we stand for a socialist alternative which is based on a democratic plan of production to meet the needs of all. What the Socialist Party stands for: The Socialist Party fights for socialism - a democratic society run for the needs of all and not the profits of a few. We also oppose every cut, fighting in our day-to-day campaigning for every possible improvement for working class people. The organised working class has the potential power to stop the cuts and transform society. As capitalism dominates the globe, the struggle for genuine socialism must be international. The Socialist Party is part of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), a socialist international that organises in over 40 countries. Our demands include: Public services • No to ALL cuts in jobs, pay, public services and benefits. Defend our pensions. • No to privatisation and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Renationalise all privatised utilities and services, with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need. • Fully fund all services and run them under accountable, democratic committees that include representatives of service workers and users. • Free, publicly run, good quality education, available to all at any age. Abolish university tuition fees now and introduce a living grant. No to academies and 'Free schools'! • A socialist NHS to provide for everyone's health needs - free at the point of use and under democratic control. Kick out private contractors! • Keep council housing publicly owned. For a massive building programme of publicly owned housing, on an environmentally sustainable basis, to provide good quality homes with low rents. Work and income • Trade union struggle to increase the minimum wage to £8 an hour without exemptions as an immediate step towards £10 an hour. For an annual increase in the minimum wage linked to average earnings. • All workers, including part-timers, temps, casual and migrant workers to have trade union rates of pay, employment protection, and sickness and holiday rights from day one of employment. • An immediate 50% increase in the state retirement pension, as a step towards a living pension. • Reject 'Workfare'. For the right to decent benefits, education, training, or a job, without compulsion. • Scrap the anti-trade union laws! For fighting trade unions, democratically controlled by their members. Full-time union officials to be regularly elected and receive no more than a worker's wage. Support the National Shop Stewards Network. • A maximum 35-hour week with no loss of pay. Environment • Major research and investment into replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and into ending the problems of early obsolescence and un-recycled waste. • Public ownership of the energy generating industries. No to nuclear power. No to Trident. • A democratically planned, low fare, publicly owned transport system, as part of an overall plan against environmental pollution. Rights • Oppose discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexuality, age, and all other forms of prejudice. • Repeal all laws that trample over civil liberties. For the right to protest! End police harassment. • Defend abortion rights. For a woman's right to choose when and whether to have children. • For the right to asylum. No to racist immigration laws. New workers' party • For a new mass workers' party drawing together workers, young people and activists from workplace, community, environmental and anti-war campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the pro-big business parties. • Trade unions to disaffiliate from the Labour Party now and aid the building of a new workers' party! Support the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition as an important step towards this. Socialism and internationalism • No to imperialist wars and occupations. Withdraw the troops immediately from Afghanistan! • Tax the super-rich! For a socialist government to take into public ownership the top 150 companies and the banking system that dominate the British economy, and run them under democratic working class control and management. Compensation to be paid only on the basis of proven need. • A democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people, and in a way that safeguards the environment. • No to the bosses' neoliberal European Union! For a socialist Europe and a socialist world! ________________________________________ The Socialist will be carrying regular articles on the bedroom tax. Subscribe via website. Send us your stories to: editors@socialistparty.org.uk Get in touch for campaign resources including leaflets and posters: info@socialistparty.org.uk 020 8988 8777 Socialist Party organisers: Eastern 07905 167 703 East Midlands 07737 978 057 London 020 8988 8786 Northern 07841 144 890 North West 07769 611 320 Southern 07833 681 910 South East 07894 716 095 South West 07759 796 478 Wales 07891 547 900 West Midlands 07929 395 884 Yorkshire 07706 710 041

Last call out for the NSSN conference this sat in London; join the fightback against the cuts !

This Saturday following hot on the heels of the so called people’s assembly last Saturday militant anti cuts and trade unionists converge on London again to call for an end of talking and a demand for a start of action. Whilst we heard big speech after big speech on Saturday at the people’s assembly workers will be wondering waht happens next. The National Shops Stewards Network conference the 7th annual event to be held since its formation meets at a crucial time for workers facing attack after attack on their pay and conditions. It can be an excellent chance to hear from rank-and-file workers and anti cuts candidates fighting back in their workplaces and their communities too. Sharing stories and tactics of how we can fight back can boost other workers confidence to know that we are not just fighting alone and we can win. Why we're going to the NSSN conference: Coventry communications workers With thanks to Lenny Shail Seven delegates will be heading down to the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference from the two CWU branches in Coventry. Workers in Royal Mail, the post office, BT and other companies in the communications industry are facing unprecedented battles: against privatisation, bullying, sell-offs, sackings, union busting and performance management. At a Coventry CWU branch meeting of around 50 members there was unanimous anger at the union's telecommunications executive's recommendation of accepting BT's below-inflation pay offer and refusal to immediately take action against performance management. At car park meetings at the local postal depots, postal workers are demanding industrial action now to defeat privatisation of Royal Mail. Local NSSN supporters in these workplaces and branches have been key to organising such meetings, putting forward a correct programme and strategy and linking the need for action with the need for a 24-hour general strike against austerity. The continuing strikes in the Crown post offices has shown that action can force the employer to back down and that the public supports them. Workers in O2 were balloted for strike action to stop outsourcing to Capita, while workers in Virgin Media, Sky, Vodaphone and others continue to defy the union-busting tactics of management. The NSSN, particularly its conference on the 29 June, is key to building support for these day-to-day battles. ________________________________________ The 7th annual conference of the NSSN will take place on 29 June, 11am - 5pm in the Camden Centre, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE The NSSN was initiated by the RMT transport union in 2006. Seven national unions - RMT, PCS, CWU, NUM, POA, NUJ, and BFAWU - are either affiliated to the NSSN or officially support it as well as many union branches, shop stewards' committees and trades councils. The conference will include main sessions on resisting the cuts and fighting the bedroom tax but also workshops on defending the NHS, organising in the workplace, housing, organising the unorganised, fighting blacklisting, Turkey, etc. It's open to everyone in the trade unions and community campaigners. Speakers include union general secretaries: Mark Serwotka, PCS, Billy Hayes, CWU and Steve Gillan, POA and Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation chair For more information contact: info@shopstewards.net www.shopstewards.net

Come to the NSSn annual conference 29th june 2013

National Shop Stewards Network conference 29 June: Unite to fight all the cuts The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) has its seventh annual conference on 29 June. It will bring together trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners in an important forum to discuss and plan for anti-cuts action over the coming months. Crucially, activists campaigning against the bedroom tax will be joining fighting trade unionists in the debates and discussions. Katrine Williams, president of Cardiff Trades Council and Wales chair for the PCS civil service union, and, Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation chair, explain why they will be at the NSSN conference. NSSN lobby of the TUC congress in Brighton 2012, photo Socialist Party (Click to enlarge) Katrine: "I have been involved in the NSSN since it was initiated by the RMT transport union seven years ago. It has proved an invaluable network over these years to get union reps together to discuss tactics on how to mobilise to defeat the cuts and attacks on our living standards. In the PCS we are struggling to make ends meet. It is our seventh year in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) without an inflation-proofed pay rise, yet big business thinks it is fine to avoid, evade and not pay £120 billion in tax every year. But this is provoking mass anger. When a lead is given, workers show they are willing to fight. PCS joint action across DWP and HMRC is getting widespread support with our demand to close the tax gap so that we can fund a fair welfare system to meet the needs of all. The NSSN is playing a key role in promoting the idea that those unions with strike mandates work together to coordinate our action. This would be the starting point for coordination - cuts in pay, pensions and jobs, as well as privatisation mean every union has a potential trade dispute. The NSSN campaigned and lobbied the TUC congress in 2012 to call a 24-hour general strike and the TUC voted overwhelmingly to consider the practicalities of such a strike. The NSSN conference this year is at a key time when we can discuss how we can build momentum for such action across the whole of the trade union movement in the public and private sectors. Our members in PCS are keen to campaign and strike with other trade unions to maximise the effectiveness of our action. The NSSN conference will be a great opportunity for union reps to discuss this and keep the pressure on to ensure that the trade union leadership moves on from just exploring the practicalities of organising a general strike and gets on with naming the day for a 24-hour general strike." Tommy: "The anti-bedroom tax campaign in Scotland is based in local communities. We are determined not only to oppose the tax but organise physical resistance to bedroom tax evictions. Our Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation seeks to bring all the grassroots campaigns together, organised under one umbrella. It makes grassroots action easier to organise and coordinate. Just like the NSSN, without local activists, groups and the promotion of grassroots activity we would be ineffective. That's what makes the NSSN so important." The 7th annual conference of the NSSN will take place on 29 June, 11am - 5pm in the Camden Centre, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE The NSSN was initiated by the RMT transport union in 2006. Seven national unions - RMT, PCS, CWU, NUM, POA, NUJ, and BFAWU - are either affiliated to the NSSN or officially support it as well as many union branches, shop stewards' committees and trades councils. The conference will include main sessions on resisting the cuts but also workshops on defending the NHS, organising in the workplace, housing, organising the unorganised, fighting blacklisting etc. It's open to everyone in the trade unions and community campaigners. Speakers include union general secretaries: Mark Serwotka, PCS, Billy Hayes, CWU and Steve Gillan, POA and Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation chair For more information contact: info@shopstewards.net or send your fee of £6 per person to: PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE. www.shopstewards.net

RIP to Stephanie Bottrill A victim of the cruel bedroom tax

Sad news today of Stephanie Bottrill Then in the early hours of last Saturday Stephanie, 53, left her home for the last time, leaving her cat Joey behind as the front-door clicked shut. She crossed her road in Meriden Drive, Solihull, to drop one of her letters and her house keys through a neighbour’s letterbox. Then she walked 15 minutes through the sleeping estate to Junction 4 of the M6. And at 6.15am she walked straight into the path of a northbound lorry and was killed instantly. Stephanie Bottrill had become the first known suicide victim of the hated Bedroom Tax. In the letter to her son, Steven, 27, she had written: “Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the Government.” Stephanie was tormented over having to find £20 a week to pay for the two under-occupied bedrooms she had been assessed for. Days before her death she told neighbours: “I can’t afford to live any more.” Solihull council Labour group leader David Jamieson, who knows the family well, said: “I’m absolutely appalled this poor lady has taken her own life because she was worried how she would pay the Bedroom Tax. “I hope the Government will take notice and reconsider this policy.” Steven Bottrill The police came to Steven’s door at 9.30 last Saturday morning. They were there with his sister Laura, 23, and he knew something terrible had happened. They told him his mum had taken her own life. He said: “It was a shock at first. You just ask why? The policeman told me she had left notes. I was on my own, looking after my little boy. “I just wanted to keep looking after him, to keep it all in. I told the police to keep the note. I was still getting my head round it.” So it was not until Sunday that Steven was ready to read the note. He said: “I couldn’t believe it. She said not to blame ourselves, it was the Government and what they were doing that caused her to do it. “She was fine before this Bedroom Tax. It was dreamt up in London, by people in offices and big houses. “They have no idea the effect it has on people like my mum.” On the Thursday before she died – when she wrote the farewell letters – Stephanie had phoned her son to say she was struggling to cope. He promised to get help and next day phoned her GP. Stephanie came home from the GP’s surgery with sleeping tablets. That Friday teatime, Steven came to see her after he finished work. He tried to reassure her, telling her everything would be OK. He says now he should have hugged her but he thought it might upset her. Stephanie had lived in her £320-a-month home for 18 years, but couldn’t cope with the extra £80 she had to find every month. She needed to downsize but nothing suitable was offered to her. And she was upset she would have to leave the home in which she raised her two children as a single mother. The well-kept back garden was Stephanie’s pride and joy. She had buried her favourite pet cats there and she liked to sit out there in the sun and remember them. Steven remembers they didn’t have much as they grew up. His mum would struggle to afford clothes and food but they were happy and always well-turned out. This shocking incident brins it home to you that the so called tough decisions politicians of all stripes claim to take has actual devastating effects on the people they have no connection with. The mirror does quote a labour cllr who could do more in my view by pledging to not evict tenants who can’t pay and reclassifying properties if they wanted to. Ed Miliband has already said labour will not reverse the bedroom tax so we cannot trust them either. All this adds to the fact that these cuts are hitting the worst off and are actually killing people in some cases. While no doubt the Tories will claim this is not linked the pressure and hardship put on Stephanie was too much for a person like that. No one should suffer for a crisis they did not cause. with extracts from todays daily mirror

Make the bedroom tax unworkable

In similar ways the bedroom tax has been the straw that broke the camels back and a little like the infamous poll tax which saw Margret Thatcher finally defeated this bedroom tax could become David Cameron and the tories very own poll tax. We need to make this tax unworkable with mass resistance and mass civil disobedience needed to defeat this vicious tax. The socialist party says : • No evictions of tenants who fall into rent arrears as a result of austerity cuts. Organise local campaigns to oppose the tax and defend our homes • Stand candidates against councillors who try to evict us. Build a new mass workers' party that draws together workers, young people and activists from workplaces and anti-cuts campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the pro-cuts parties • Cap rents and build homes. Invest in a major programme of council house building and refurbishment to provide affordable homes for all and decent jobs • End low pay! If workers are paid a genuinely living wage they would not need to claim housing benefit • Fight all the cuts. Trade unions must build for a 24-hour general strike as the next major step in the campaign against austerity • For a socialist alternative to cuts and capitalism with a democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people - not the 1% Many of those actively taking part in anti bedroom tax campaigns are mostly those not affected by this tax but want to get involved and lend solidarity all the same. More the better i say. It says everything about the major movement and politicisation that could develop that most of those participating are not affected by the bedroom tax but are acting in solidarity. The rage against the rich and their political representatives is palpable - the sheer injustice of bankers' bailouts and their bonuses, MPs' expenses, pay-day loan sharks, foodbanks, food prices, unemployment. There is also an understanding that those in power will not cease their attacks on the working class and gains of the past such as social housing unless they are forced to. 'Spare room' myth-busting! Myth #1: people have 'spare' bedrooms So-called 'spare' rooms aren't spare at all. The government's criteria mean children and young people are forced to share bedrooms with siblings - up to 16 if they're the same sex. They don't take into account people's disabilities which might mean they occasionally need someone to stay over to help them or to sleep separately from their partner. And if parents are separated, only one is entitled to have a room for their child. Myth #2: the bedroom tax is going to 'encourage people into work' It's hard to encourage people into jobs that don't exist. In some areas there are up to 20 jobseekers for every vacancy. And the government continues to cut more jobs from the public sector. Figures have shown all the schemes they've tried, including their heralded Work Programme, have failed to increase the numbers getting jobs. Besides, many of those affected by the bedroom tax are already in work - 90% of new housing benefit claimants from 2010-2012 have a job but are so poorly paid they are still entitled to support with housing costs - a bailout for stingy, low-paying bosses. Myth #3: the bedroom tax will result in a reduced housing benefit bill The housing benefit bill is so big because of high rents - mainly in the private sector but now social landlords can charge 80% of the market rate too. Private sector rents have increased by 86% in 40 years. The best way to reduce it is to introduce a cap on rents. People have been forced to move to urban areas to look for work, increasing the need for affordable housing. But the amount of social housing being built has fallen at the same time as the existing stock has been sold off. What the government really wants to do is attack the welfare state in every way possible and to force working and middle class people to pay for the bankers' crisis. Myth #4: it's only fair to create parity with the private sector The reduction in housing benefit for a spare room in the private sector hasn't always existed either. And the real problem is that there isn't enough decent housing, and virtually none that is really affordable. People being hit by the bedroom tax have nowhere to move to because of the massive shortage of social housing - mainly as a result of decades of successive governments continuing the sell-off of council housing. Myth #5: the £500 benefit cap is only bringing benefits in line with average wages This figure doesn't include benefits that people in work have to claim, including child benefit and working tax credits. That so many people earn less than £500 is a disgrace, best tackled by increasing the minimum wage, not bringing benefits even further into poverty levels. Those who are fighting this savage attack should stand in elections and join other anti-cuts campaigners in building a new mass party, based on ordinary working class people, to put an alternative to austerity on the agenda.

17 thousand blind people at risk from bedroom tax, time to fightback!

I’m registered as blind myself and reports in the daily Mirror have shocked me. They describe that up to 17,000 blind and partially sighted people could be affected by the Tories bedroom tax a spare room subsidy in affect. A report in the Sunday People gave a taste of what this will mean: the Royal national Institute for the Blind (RNIB) “An estimated 17,000 registered blind [people] face a forced move." One blind woman explains how she will be affected: "If I had to move I'd face weeks in isolation, unable to step outside the front door because it's too dangerous. "It's a long process to learn a new area. I'd have to wait for a trained guide to teach me the roads." Funding cuts mean there is a long waiting list for trainers who can help by plotting routes from blind people's homes to shops and bus routes. This woman is contemplating absorbing the extra rent into her meagre income - adding another candidate to the queues in Foodbank Britain. But the bedroom tax can be beaten. The death of Thatcher has reminded us of the battle against the hated poll tax that saw the tax defeated by a mass movement and eventually removed Thatcher from power. While there are differences with Thatcher's poll tax, her descendents' bedroom tax is rapidly becoming a focus for workers' anger over wider austerity: council tax benefit cuts, housing benefit changes, and all the myriad forms of misery we face. All anti-cuts campaigners, trade unionists and socialists should get behind the anti-bedroom tax movement as part of the campaign to defeat austerity. The Socialist Party says: • Scrap the bedroom tax! • No evictions! Call on council and housing associations to refuse to evict all tenants that fall into rent arrears as a result of austerity cuts. Organise local campaigns to defend our homes • Stand against councillors who try to evict us. Build a new mass workers' party that draws together workers, young people and activists from workplaces and anti-cuts campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the pro-cuts parties • Cap rents and build homes. Invest in a major programme of council house building and refurbishment to provide affordable homes for all and decent jobs • End low pay! If workers are paid a genuinely living wage they would not need to claim housing benefit • Fight all the cuts. Trade unions must build for a 24-hour general strike as the next major step in the campaign against all the cuts

The inspiration of Tommy Sheridan

I know as a Marxist I am not supposed to focus on the individual in history and see things in a class analysis but Tommy is a big inspiration to me coming into the movement. Tommy Sheridan a prominent Scottish Socialist has dedicated his life to fighting oppression and exploitation wherever it has emerged. A huge character on the left in British politics Tommy has inspired many to search inside themselves for that collective strength and bond that all humans feel but yet is beaten out of them by this rotten capitalist system. Tommy holds up the traditions of democratic socialism and despite what certain people may say about him about his exploits with the Scottish Socialist Party and his court cases with the Murdoch press I’ve looked past that and seen a genuine working class fighter prepared to sacrifice his own standing in society for the benefit of others. Just take the other weekend a demonstration in Glasgow against the bedroom tax which Tommy and other socialists have played a big part in building made a fantastic speech where Tommy stated quite clearly in everyday language that everyone could understand why we must oppose this rotten tax and the government at large. Tommy although not directly affected by this vicious attack on the working class and the poor offered his full and utmost solidarity with all those fighting the tax and even though not directly affected pledged to stand by any of those who wished to fight this brutal tax to the very end including fighting evictions. But Tommy a life long class fighter has fought battle after battle on behalf of the working class. He has bravely taken on the News of the World and Rupert Murdoch and is gradually trying to clear his name in the face of huge media lies and former comrades lies about him The News of the World attacked Tommy on the smallest of basis’s and looked to destroy his and the Scottish left for many years and in many ways they did but Tommy Sheridan is made of stronger stuff than that and is fighting back the only way he can and that is through class struggle and supporting working class struggles. Throughout his court case of purgery back in the later part of the last decade against news international was seen as payback for Tommy Sheridan’s leading role during the mass anti-poll tax movement in the late 80’s and early ‘90’s. A mass movement of ordinary working class men and women that cost the then prime minster, Margaret Thatcher, her job. Tommy Sheridan rubbed salt into the gaping wounds of the political and legal elite by being elected from his prison cell in Saughton Prison to Glasgow City Council in 1992. It’s also payback for being a thorn in the side of the establishment as a socialist MSP in the Scottish parliament for 10 years - when he lived as a workers’ MSP on a workers wage. But above the ruling class wanted to inflict a defeat on Tommy Sheridan in order to send out a warning to every worker, every trade unionist and every socialist - don’t stand up and fight. Accept the onslaught of cuts and attacks while the millionaires and billionaires walk away without a scratch from an economic crisis they created. Thankfully this has not been the case and Tommy is now out of jail and fighting fit and fighting the good fight once again. Tommy Sheridan was a leader of the anti-poll tax movement that was central to organising the mass non-payment campaign that defeated the Tory government in the early 1990s and in the process ended the career of Margaret Thatcher. He served a four-month jail sentence during that campaign as a result of his leadership of it, and he was elected from his prison cell to Glasgow city council in 1992. Tommy was elected as a socialist living on the average wage of a worker to the Scottish parliament in 1999. It was this that made him the target of the Murdoch media empire whose stable of papers include the Sun and News of the World, papers with a long record of attacking workers, trade unionists, asylum seekers and socialists. The vendetta against Tommy Sheridan is part of a campaign to destroy any opposition to the billionaires and the capitalist system. Tommy Sheridan continues to inspire many people to socialist ideas like myself and will continue to do so. We need figures like Tommy to bring ordinary people towards the ideas of socialism and eventually Marxism as a step towards changing society. I am a big supporter of Tommy and his speech’s inspire me hugely he and others like him give me confidence that we can struggle and even if we are in small numbers at times our ideas will catch a echo with the mass’s of workers at a given time in history and we as socialists are on the right side of history.

Standing in solidarity with those affected by the bedroom tax

I have a confession. I am not directly affected by the bedroom tax which will from this month affect those in social housing and housing association housing who have a spare room. But I do stand in full solidarity and will defend anyone affected by this wicked and spiteful attack on the poorest in society. It’s not enough to oppose this in words this most likely will take the form of direct action to stop and eventually scrap all together. We need the spirit of the poll tax to make this tax simply unworkable. From April the 'bedroom tax' will mean that social housing tenants with spare rooms will have their benefits cut. This will hit 660,000 households including many disabled people and low-paid workers. Tenants are faced with an impossible choice of moving from their family homes or being left with a much smaller income. Many will simply be unable to find smaller homes in the social sector because they don't exist. For example, in Newcastle 6,637 families are hit but there are only 50 one-bed homes available. Some will be forced to move to privately rented flats which, because they are more expensive, will actually mean they need more in benefits. There has been a wave of opposition from working class communities. On Merseyside 'One Vision Housing' provoked protests by trying to force tenants to sign a disclaimer accepting that they would face legal action if they didn't pay rent as a result of the bedroom tax. The resistance has already had an effect with the government saying it will introduce exceptions for families with severely disabled children and adult children in the armed forces as well as counting foster children in room allowances. Unworkable Some councils and landlords have seen how unworkable the tax is and have made concessions and come out publicly against the tax. Faced with a growing protest movement, Dundee council has passed a motion agreeing not to evict as a result of arrears caused by the tax for a "transitional period of one year." The policy has been justified as a means to use the social housing stock more efficiently - given the shortage, why should people have a 'spare' room? But the shortage is a result of government policy. This government came into office claiming it was committed to "get Britain building". In fact, house-building figures released in February show an 11% decrease in the number of new homes started in the last year, down to just 98,280. In 2010, the government cut spending on social housing and promised that de-regulation and freeing up the market would increase house building: it didn't! Even the CBI, the 'bosses union', has called on the government to spend £1.25 billion on building 50,000 new homes. Writing in the Guardian, Zoe Williams recently highlighted the fact that as government support for building social housing has fallen the benefit bill has increased, and house building has collapsed. As she put it: "Let's build more homes - who wouldn't vote for that?" Build TUSC But it is hard to vote for it when none of the major parties stand for it. Some Labour politicians have spoken out against the hardship caused by the bedroom tax but they accept the idea of both a bedroom tax and a benefit cap - they just say they oppose this one. That is the importance of building the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition as an alternative, arguing for homes not profit. Nationalising the banks and using them to support a programme of house building would put building workers back in work and offer a real prospect of solving the housing crisis.

Black April

So we enter April with a bang or a thud for many people living in Britain many new laws and benefit changes come in today and for many this will signal a continuation of harsh austerity policies from the con-dem government. These new policies coming into force from today onwards include cuts to housing benefit for some social housing tenants with a spare room and changes to council tax. The biggest shake-up of the welfare system for decades will also see low income households in many parts of England begin paying council tax for the first time. From today, 660,000 social housing tenants deemed to have a spare room will begin to lose an average of £14 a week in housing benefit. What is happening when? • 1 April: Spare room subsidy removed for working-age social housing tenants • 1 April: Council tax benefit changed to council tax support and run locally • 8 April: Working-age benefits and tax credits uprated by 1% - a below-inflation cap • 8 April: Disability living allowance replaced by personal independence payment • 15 April: Introduction of cap on total amount of benefit for working-age people • 29 April: Universal credit rolled out in test areas It has been estimated that two million low income households will pay more, as a result of changes to council tax benefit. The benefit is being replaced by council tax support and responsibility for it is being moved from central government to councils, but with 10% less funding. Also from this month, most working age benefits will increase by just one per cent - less than the likely rise in the cost of living. And later this month, an overall limit of £500 a week on claims is beginning in four London boroughs, and will come into force across England, Scotland and Wales over the coming months. But government plans to test a new universal credit - which combines several benefits into one payment - have been delayed. Three out of four pilot areas in the north west of England will not now start using the system until July. Even the pro big business BBC has voiced concerns at how quickly these cuts are being made they say quite clearly these policies will define this government too right they will. They will go down as the government who looked to savage ordinary peoples living standards. All of these policies and cuts must be fought in the most militant, determined and firm way in whatever way we can. There are so many reasons now for the TUC to get up off its knees and name a day for a 24 hour general strike it is overwhelming now the attacks on the poor. Its time we all stood up and made a stand.

Kill the bedroom tax , defend all at risk, cant pay wont pay !

As we edge towards April when the much disputed bedroom tax will come into force protests are growing by the week with many protests happening in towns and cities up and down the land. I would like to add that many of these protests were hijacked by the labour party to sit itself as against this tax despite being for a similar tax in 2008 in fact. Could this be what tuition fees were to the lib dems for labour? Time will tell of course. David Cameron and his multi-millionaire family have four homes, mansions in reality. Tory welfare minister David Freud, who is bringing in this law, owns an eight-bedroom mansion and a £1.9 million London home. These well-housed millionaires want council house and housing association tenants to lose 14% of their housing benefit if they're deemed to have one spare room, 25% if they have two. There are things councils can do. There's a huge pot of money from the sale of council houses. Ring-fenced, because of legislation brought in by Margaret Thatcher and not repealed during three terms of a Labour government. And nationalising the banking system under democratic workers' control would free up more resources. This will hit 660,000 households including many disabled people and low-paid workers. Tenants are faced with an impossible choice of moving from their family homes or being left with a much smaller income. This situation will only get worse in October when benefit caps are introduced under 'universal credit'. In Scotland working class people are already getting organised On 13 March over 100 people packed into a Glasgow public meeting to build for the 30 March demonstration against the hated bedroom tax. The meeting, bringing together people from across the West of Scotland, agreed to launch a West Scotland Federation of Anti -Bedroom Tax campaigns. Well-known socialist campaigner Tommy Sheridan gave a rousing accounts of his experience of how millions of working class people "melted the iron lady", Margaret Thatcher, by defeating the poll tax through mass non-payment. The lessons of that struggle, Tommy said, can play a vital role in mobilising resistance, and winning the struggle against the bedroom tax today. Socialist Party member and Unison activist Nicola Crawford outlined her experience of building a campaign in Shawlands and Pollokshaws in Glasgow. After a successful public meeting, street meetings of tenants increased the spread of the campaign and gave confidence to more benefit claimants to get involved. Nicola called for a national campaign to build mass resistance to evictions and raised the demand for a council house-building programme. The meeting agreed a resolution calling for the scrapping of the bedroom tax and for a massive programme of council house-building to provide affordable homes for all. The campaign's demands include: • Scrap the bedroom tax • Support those who cannot and will not pay this austerity tax • No evictions for rent arrears. Build an army of anti-eviction campaigners to stop evictions • Councils should rule out eviction for bedroom tax and fight the cuts • Write off all debt due to the bedroom tax. Demand compensation to councils and housing associations as part of a mass campaign to win back the money stolen from public services by the Con-Dems • For a major programme of council house-building to provide affordable homes for all The pressure being put on the government and local councils is starting to tell we may have to prepare ourselves to defend those being evicted from their homes at this point labour party members and officials will leave the campaign and stick to empty rhetoric. They could pledge to reverse this tax if elected yet no such pledge looks likely. So it’s left to us the organised labour movement and the socialists to get organised and raise the ideas of mass resistance. It will be tricky as those affected are more in some areas than others no doubt quite deliberately thought out by the Tories but we must link up where a common issue arrises. This can be defeated and we must link it to the need to fight all cuts and raise the need for a working class political alternative which could mean supporting or standing for TUSC this may in the local county council elections TUSC is looking to contest.

Concessions show bedroom tax can be defeated!

Today we’ve seen chinks in the armour of the coalition government over the so called bedroom tax. A truly vicious attack on some of the poorest in society. The coalition has made some concessions with the bedroom tax to take some of the non-spare rooms out of the new charge. Changes mean that foster careers will not be charged for rooms, as long as they have had a foster child or become an approved foster carer in the past 12 months and army personnel living at home will be allowed to keep their room even if they are away for over a year. Yesterday, it was announced that seriously disabled children would be considered to need their own bedroom but that will be a decision to be made by individual councils and no real definition has emerged as to what will be exempted and what won’t. These concessions show that the government is worried about the backlash over this charge and are recognising that there are far more “exceptional” cases where people need their “spare” room, than cases where they don’t and could move. Over 50 demonstrations are being held on Saturday, with anger growing to this tax. These exemptions remove some people but there are still many disabled people who will be charged for their “spare” room which is used for an adaptation or for equipment storage or for a partner/family member who is also a carer to sleep in. There are still separated parents with visiting children who will have to pay to keep a room for their child to stay in – and grandparents in the same situation with grandchildren. There are also people who have lived, worked and raised a family in a community that will be forced to move because there are no smaller properties available on their estate. No mention has been made as to whether the Discretionary Housing Payment fund will be reduced, as £5m was intended for Foster Carers. This fund is supposed to cover all the exceptional cases of people who clearly do need extra rooms or those who should be allowed to remain living in their community, but was never likely to be enough. Join the protests in your area on Saturday and help to ensure that it is not needed at all. This can be defeated lets show the government we have the spirit of the poll tax still. Can’t pay won’t pay!

Scrap the unfair bedroom tax!

On 1 April David Cameron's government of the rich will unveil their vicious 'bedroom tax'. Council house and housing association (HA) tenants over 21 and under pension age that is judged to be 'under-occupying' their premises will lose much of their housing benefit (HB). They will lose14% for one 'spare bedroom' and 25% for two or more. There are already press stories about the effects on disabled people and families with disabled children, the sick, unemployed people, etc. Many people on housing benefit today are in work but on low pay and they too will suffer. This is a blatant class attack! Will bailiffs be sent into the stately homes of the super-rich to evict surplus millionaires? No. On the same day as the bedroom tax arrives the Con-Dems are cutting millionaires' taxes yet again, saving them over £100,000 a year! There are nowhere near enough one-bedroom homes to offer decent accommodation to the hundreds of thousands who the Con-Dems reckon are under-occupying their homes. House-building figures have crashed - fewer than 100,000 new homes were started in 2012 - the second lowest figure since 1946! Cash-hungry councils has practically stopped building new properties. The private rented sector has now reached 8.5 million, one in six households, who are paying more and more rent, often to a small number of giant greedy landlords. Cameron's regime hopes to force more tenants to follow suit by making social housing (i.e. council and HA) unaffordable - evictions and homelessness will follow. We cannot let this government force people out of their homes! Around the country, rage at this cruel new tax is exploding. In Scotland, where the heroic, organised and successful opposition to Thatcher's poll tax started over 20 years ago, Socialist Party Scotland members have started setting up anti-bedroom tax campaigns. Scrap the bedroom tax • Build support for anyone who cannot or will not pay this unfair, unjust tax • Councils and Housing Associations must refuse to evict any tenants who fall into rent arrears as a result of the tax • Stop the attacks on benefits and wages. Make the rich and big business pay for the economic mess - not ordinary people • For a major programme of council house-building to provide affordable homes for all. Nationalise the house-building companies and banks • Build a 24-hour general strike to bring down the Con-Dem government that is slashing jobs and services In this issue Socialist Party news and analysis Scrap the bedro With extracts taken from http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/755/16268/07-03-2013/scrap-the-bedroom-tax

Bin the bedroom tax can’t pay won’t pay!

This year many people across the country will be affected by the bedroom tax. A tax on empty rooms in a house. [Mike Daily is the Principal Solicitor of Glasgow’s Govan Law Centre and is a member of the Financial Services Authority’s Financial Services Consumer Panel. He writes in a personal capacity.] One of the worst aspects of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act is the so called ‘bedroom tax’, although it might equally be called a ‘disability tax’ because two-thirds of the 95,000 households affected in Scotland contain someone with a disability.1 The rationale for housing benefit cuts for ‘under-occupied homes’ in the social rented sector is the UK Government’s desire to reduce the overall cost of housing benefit by £1bn over two years – so the bedroom tax is another tentacle of the austerity agenda. 2 A strategy that almost all respected political economists around the world will tell you is fundamentally flawed.3 If everyone does something at the same time, like implement cuts and reduce spending, the economy will go on a downwards spiral and UK debt will actually grow. This is what has happened in the UK. This is known as a ‘fallacy of composition’.4 The Chancellor has got it wrong, GDP has gone down, and our economic growth is flat lining.5 Besides the obvious human misery and indignity of forcing people out of their homes, there are other powerful reasons why implementing a bedroom tax is wrong and not in the public interest. Two immediate problems are created: first, you create a dynamic to force people to downsize. The DWP estimate that 660,000 people across the UK will be affected by these changes. The changes apply to claimants under the age of 61.6 Some 81% of those affected are ‘under occupying’ by just one bedroom. This means most people affected will be liable to a 14% cut in their existing housing benefit from April 2013 – the equivalent of £624 per annum or £12 per week. The DWP already accept there will be many communities where there is insufficient smaller homes to downsize to. This added to cuts in other benefits and the universal credit coming in in April will have a devastating effect on local communities and some of the poorest in society. This tax must be fought as widely and as tactically as we can. This is not going to be something the trade unions are likely to get involved in although their support for direct action struggles is always welcome. This may take local tenants groups with militant mass non payment to force this tax into the dustbin of history. What is clear though is that non implementation is a option and labour councils should be using all legal powers they have to try and delay disrupt and ultimately make this tax unworkable. Disabled people will of course be hardest hit, along with those on low pay or benefits. The exemption for tenants who need an overnight career is of limited application. ITV News has given some common real life examples of where disabled tenants will be penalized by the bedroom tax.8 The example of a tenant who uses her second bedroom as sterile room to receive nutrition from a machine, made necessary after she had surgery for bowel cancer. Or a couple where the husband had a stroke and cannot share the same bedroom with his wife. Both of these tenants will lose over £48 per month from their housing benefit from April. While the cost to a social landlord in evicting a tenant is on average £6,000. Local councils will not want to be seen to be shelling out thousands in evicting lots of people this could become unworkable if many simply refuse to pay or in many people’s case cannot pay so won’t pay. It’s a disgrace while rich millionaires have spare rooms in their houses are not taxed yet those of us who need a spare room are taxed for the right to have one. It smack’s a little of a nanny state dictating what you can and cannot have now. There are sure to be many legal cases against this unfair tax on the basis of discrimination and I do hope those who are affected search out any route to fight back and are supported when they do so. Occupations must be supported if families are under threat of losing their homes and our solidarity will be needed at all times. People facing this tax are not alone and must not be made to feel so. An attack on one is an attack on us all.

Fighting the bedroom tax can’t pay won’t pay!

There are so many cuts we could and should be fighting but we simply cannot spread ourselves in so many directions as a small revolutionary party in the socialist party so focusing in Harlow anyway on the so called Bedroom tax will fit in with the local council tax benefit cuts and a wider campaign involving local communities allowing us to build links with different campaigns. It is not clear whether the so-called “Bedroom Tax” which comes in this spring is intended to revive the practice of taking in lodgers. It applies only to tenants of councils and housing associations, who will find their housing benefit cut by an average of £14 a week if they leave a bedroom unoccupied for more than thirteen weeks. We are told that the aim of the measure is “to make better use of social housing”, either by persuading people to exchange their home for a smaller one or, presumably, by renting out their spare room. The “under-occupancy penalty” is forecast to save the taxpayer £480 million a year; housing benefit costs £20 billion. There are so many grey areas here I mean what if you have a son or daughter who lives with you goes off to university how will that work as and when they come back ? If you take in a lodger is that not sub letting? How do they even plan on collecting this will they snoop on your homes day in day out seeing who comes in and out of the house? If your house is what they decide under occupied moving to a smaller property isn’t always easy with the lack of affordable housing in this country as it is. Yet it’s a fairly nasty measure for other reasons too. Many others among the 600,000 people affected must be middle-aged couples whose children have left the parental home, but who are happy to have a spare room to accommodate children or grandchildren on occasional visits. Others are old people who will now feel they have to move to a smaller house simply because they have one spare room in the property they have occupied for years. And what counts as a spare room anyway? It probably requires very little ingenuity to find another use for an unoccupied bedroom. Put a TV set into it and explain to the snooper that your wife (or alternatively husband) likes to watch television and you don’t. Information on the tax from the National Housing Federation says: Welfare reforms will cut the amount of benefit that people can get if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home. This measure will apply from April 2013 to tenants of working age. The power to do this is contained in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and is commonly referred to as the bedroom tax, size criteria or under-occupation penalty. What do the changes mean? The size criteria in the social rented sector will restrict housing benefit to allow for one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household, with the following exceptions: • Children under 16 of same gender expected to share • Children under 10 expected to share regardless of gender • Disabled tenant or partner who needs nonresident overnight carer will be allowed an extra bedroom Who will be affected? All claimants who are deemed to have at least one spare bedroom will be affected. This includes: • Separated parents who share the care of their children and who may have been allocated an extra bedroom to reflect this. Benefit rules mean that there must be a designated ‘main carer’ for children (who receives the extra benefit) • Couples who use their ‘spare’ bedroom when recovering from an illness or operation • Foster carers because foster children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes • Parents whose children visit but are not part of the household • Families with disabled children • Disabled people including people living in adapted or specially designed properties. How much will people lose? The cut will be a fixed percentage of the Housing Benefit eligible rent. The Government has said that this will be set at 14% for one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more extra bedrooms. The Government’s impact assessment shows that those affected will lose an average of £14 a week. Housing association tenants are expected to lose £16 a week on average. How many people will see their benefit cut? The proposal will affect an estimated 660,000 working-age social tenants – 31% of existing working-age housing benefits claimants in the social sector. The majority of these people have only one extra bedroom. Need more detail on how the bedroom tax will be applied? Read the regulations on the social sector size criteria or bedroom tax. Do the regulations define a bedroom? No. The Government’s view is that it is for landlords to specify the size of the property and this ought to match what is on any tenancy agreement and reflect the level of rent charged. The bedroom tax will not take account of whether a room is a single or a double bedroom. A room either is a bedroom or is not a bedroom. How will the bedroom tax operate under Universal Credit? There are some differences between how the bedroom tax will operate under housing benefit (from April 2013) and under Universal Credit when it is introduced. These differences are summarised in the table below. From April 2013 Under Universal Credit Those over State Pension Credit age will not be affected, including where one member of a couple is over. Mixed age couples - both will need to be over pension age to not be affected by the bedroom tax. Those where one is already in receipt of Pension Credit will however be protected. Non-dependant deductions (NDD): six separate rates varying by income and under 25s on benefit are exempt. One, flat-rate Housing Cost Contribution (HCC). All under 21s are exempt from HCC. Non-dependants: couples get one room between them. They pay the NDD unless both are exempt. Each adult non-dependent gets a room. Each pays the HCC unless exempt. Lodgers get a room but income is taken into account and deducted pound for pound from benefit apart from first £20. No room allowance but any income from lodgers is disregarded. In joint tenancy cases the bedroom tax can still apply. Bedroom tax not applied in joint- tenancy cases. Protection on death for up to 52 weeks. Benefits run-on for 3 months. 13 week protection where the tenant could previously afford the rent and Housing Benefit has not been claimed in the last 52 weeks. Size criteria apply immediately. What about lodgers? From April 2013 lodgers will count as occupying a room under the size criteria rules. Any income from a lodger will be taken into account and deducted pound for pound from benefit apart from the first £20. This reverses under Universal Credit – lodgers will not be counted as occupying a room and the size criteria reduction will apply, but any income from lodgers will be fully disregarded and will not impact on the amount of a claimant’s Universal Credit award. DWP have produced a factsheet on things to consider when renting out a room. Taking in a lodger will also have an impact on many home contents insurance policies, potentially invalidating a policy or raising the premiums. What about students studying away from home? Households where there is a room kept for a student studying away from home will not be deemed to be under-occupying if the student is away for less than 52 weeks (under housing benefit) or 6 months (under Universal Credit). Under housing benefit rules students are exempt from non-dependant deductions, however full-time students will not be exempt from the Housing Cost Contribution (HCC) which replaces non-dependent deductions under Universal Credit. All young people under 21 are exempt from the HCC, but students over 21 will face a contribution in the region of £15 per week. Are pre-1989 tenancies exempt from the bedroom tax? No. It seems so vague the details and how the local councils will collect this tax there could be so many anomalies thrown up. In a letter sent to a Harlow resident we read that the council are suggesting an occupant thinks about finding a job if they did not have one, how do they know they didn’t? Also ask them to consider taking a lodger? In affect telling people how to live their lives, Nanny state much? So in Harlow and I’m sure elsewhere we will be fighting this cruel unnecessary cut raising awareness with a petition and local public meetings and leaflets etc. This is cruel and unfair when the rich have mansions with hundreds of empty rooms we are forced into tiny rabbit hutch’s of homes and to use all possible space and get charged if we don’t. Since the con-dem government ruled out any form of a mansion tax this seems so clear now it’s a attack on the poorest in society and those who are seeing their pay cut, jobs cut, and austerity forced on them even further. So we stand by the principle can’t pay won’t pay! Keep in touch if you wish to find out more about our campaign on this.