What are your views on the bedroom tax?

[Cheekychops84]

the new tax for hb claimants where u loose some hb for bedrooms u don't need? we work so at the moment won't b affected but if workers later on down the line are affected I think is a bit unfair as we are paying all rent and bills ourself at the same price as Private Rent?

I suppose if its classed as a 3 bedroomed house, they won't care what the rooms are being used for.

achillea

hb claiments who recive carers allowence get just over £50 a week, £32 a week of that is protected the remainder is allready expected to be used towards rent and is used in the calculation. so you want more of that to be used?
dla is also protected as it is intended to be used towards paying for care in addition to a none paid person who may also be reciving ca. paying towards aids/support that you require and other such expenses it is not intended to be used towards day to day normal living expenses that a none disabled person normally has. thats why its protected.
the dhp fund is not guranteed its compleatly dependant on many factors the most important being

these are not red herrings. the part of the reform that will not impact on people in receipt of disability benefits is the cap but i belive people getting ca if none resident will have there own money cut.

the rule on under occupying (the extra bedroom) are RULES they are not guidelines it is not up to the la choose to do this or not, by april next year they have to. some have started the process allready.

lots of people who have disabilities due to the new regulations may not qualify for the other benefits they slip through the net because the new rules allow them to. but they will still have the need.

I've just checked our local caps:

£250 per week (or £1083.33 per month) for a one bedroom property

£290 per week (or £1256.67 per month) for a two bedroom property

£340 per week (or £1473.33 per month) for a three bedroom property

£400 per week (or £1733.33 per month) for a four bedroom property or larger

That looks extremely reasonable to me.

thats the lha not the cap the cap is the total benefit cap that prohibits any unemployed person or minimumly employed person with kids from reciveing more than £500 a week in benefits irrespective of how many kids they have and how much the gov says they need to live on.hb is going to be basicly policeing this and using hb as a way of making it happen.

The age thing confuses me ,if you have 2 sons 13 and 15 they 'have' to share so for a few months until the eldest is 16 you would have to pay the extra 'tax' or move to a 2 bed house and then move again to a 3 bed when hes 16 :-/ maybe they should be looking at tenants no children first ??
Also I am classed as needing 5 bedrooms under the LHA rules(due to ages/sex/number of dc's) but I'm guessing the local council wont be building me one any time soon !!

I wondered that,do you pay the tax until the oldest one needs his own room?

They are the councils rules BTW before anyone says they slept 15 in a bed while they were growing up.

not sure how it impacts 16yo yet but its possibly that cb will effect the stance they take.

what age and gender are all your kids?

That's what I want to know? No point downsizing when eventually u will need to upside again

None of this affects me, I'm just wondering really.

dont forget a 16yo who leaves education is classed as a none dependant adult so whilt this rule may give them a room you get the none dependant deduction they cannot claim hb towards the room in your house.

usual sorry i ment the poster who needs a 5 bed

This doesn't effect me at the moment but we are trying to exchange with a single lady who is in a 4 bed which means having 3 girls we have an extra room. But we pay rent ourselves at the moment so won't affect us yet but no doubt will soon.

if you do claim hb then as all your kids are girls they are expected to share so the extra room deduction should effect a claim.

I don't have a 'spare room - each of my children has their own room.

Which is a medical necessity backed by medical professionals and SS.

Yet I will be penalised for that. As it's not a 'spare' room for a carer.

The boys are expected to share, you see. Which they would if they didn't have disabilities.

Wow, Butisthis, do you live in London?

The cap is £461/month for a two-bed in Glasgow.

socknickingpixie I have 2 boys 18 and 14 and 3 girls 9 ,6 and 3 ,I put them into the bedroom calculator on our councils website and it said I needed 5
this is from www.entitledtofortenants.co.uk/calculator.aspx
Here are your results.
You are entitled to five bedrooms

we are currently in a 3 bed house previously we had a 4 bed and dont claim HB

Hey sock do 3 girls share one room or jus 2? Also we dnt claim HB?

Oh dear, I thought this was a 'Shades of Grey' thread. Bye.

THE gOVT has screwed this country, they are scrabbling around for ANY way to get their paws on more dosh ,YOU are going to have to come up with the bucks! o.k.a. "less bang 4 your buck" but, we ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER ! remind me , how many rooms in that London des res "MA"AM" CURRENTLY STAYS IN, are perhaps not currently occupied ? nope , i dont know either.think she should "downsize ?"

it is not relivent to you if you dont claim any hb these rules only effect hb claiments. if you where to claim hb all 3 would be expected to share.

now earlyer on you said you had been told your were entitled to a 5 bed house this is irrespective of hb or not but if it is just you and your dp with 2 boys that age and 3 girls all under 10 under the current rules you are only entitled to a 3 bedroom providing the floor space is a certain amount. children under one are not counted at all, children over 1 but under 10 only count as half a person,but if the la due to floor space and statutory over crowding said you had to have a 5 bed so you got one and then later on your circumstances changed and you had to claim hb you would get the hb extra room penalty.

however i am expecting to see some further guidence notes (sneekely passed to me at some stage) providing more info on how many in each room of what size ect as im pretty certain that in the dark recess of my fairly addled brain i recall some section of housing law that specifys an issue with cramming 174 children in a room smaller than a single bed .sadly this info is not included in the current guidence.

Its silly unless u are a couple or alone or have 1 kiddy in a 3 bed it shudnt apply

Isn't it against health and safety to have 3 kids in one squishy room? I thought it was a max of 2 sharing ?

socking,its what it says on the welfare reform page and I was on full HB when I did it

Cheeky yes that is what they are saying on the entitled to page re sharing

the welfare reform page /entitledto page and statutory overcrowding rules seem to say different things

There is a rule in place regarding size of room allowed to be used as a bedroom ,the room my sons share is very close to it .The council have said I am overcrowded and have placed me in a high band for CBL ,I can only bid on 3 bedroomed houses IF they have a seperate dining room ,4 bedroomed houses or, if one of the 2 should come up ,a 5 bedder . I have just come off HB although I can still claim it when the TC's get sorted :0)

the housing benefit rules have changed star they come into force everywhere in england in april 2013.

and thats one of my issues with it the two rules contradict each other. the overcrowding rules arnt just to do with bedrooms its also worked out with overall floor space excluding any room under a certain size i think its 6ft by something or other basicly small also any room with a loo in it.so if you live in social housing but pay all rent yourself you are protected by the overcrowding rules but if you get any hb you arnt if some of your square footage happens to describe itself as a bedroom.

another problem i have with it is exactly what youve pointed out the housing dept wont expect you to have that many sharing but hb can still deduct the 14%.
its going to be even worse for large families who end up not working when the benefit cap comes into force as well.