Scottish Government action to negate the ‘cruel’ effects of the ‘bedroom tax’ has been branded ‘inadequate’ by a committee of MPs.
While welcoming efforts by the Scottish Government to counteract the spare room subsidy this year, Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee urged MSPs to also refund payments and write off arrears passed on to residents over the past twelve months.
In its report, the Committee concluded current efforts to extend Discretionary Housing Payments remained ‘flawed’.
‘If the “bedroom tax” is worthy of cancelling next month then it is worthy of cancelling this month too, and therefore the negation of the tax for 2014/15 should be paralleled by negation for 2013/14,’ chair of the committee, Ian Davidson, said.
‘All “bedroom tax” arrears should be written off and - to avoid the moral hazard of allowing those who have struggled to pay to remain penalised - all payments made should be refunded.’
‘The Scottish Government has the powers; it has the money; we hope it has the will,’ Davidson concluded.
However, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government said lifting the cap on Discretionary Housing Payments remained ‘the best and most straightforward way to mitigate the effects of “bedroom tax”’ as it remained the ‘only way’ regular and on-going payments could be made directly to those affected.
‘The approach favoured by the Scottish Affairs Committee will still see tenants incur arrears and go into debt,’ the spokesperson added. ‘The Scottish Government has committed a total of £35m in 2014/15 to mitigate the effects of the “bedroom tax” and help the 72,000 households in Scotland who are affected but we need Westminster to lift the cap.’
Responding to the report, a Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: ‘The removal of the spare room subsidy is a necessary reform to restore fairness to Housing Benefit and ensure a better use of social housing - when there are 25,000 families living in overcrowded social homes in Scotland.’
Read our guide to 'what is the bedroom tax'
