Almost 60% of tenants hit by the Government’s ‘bedroom tax’ are struggling to pay additional rent, according to an official report.

A study into the impact of the removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) found 300,000 people affected were in rent arrears five months after charges came into force.

Over this period, some 41% of tenants were reported to have paid the additional rent in full, with 39% only paying a portion of it.

Some 57% of affected claimants reported cutting back on ‘household essentials’ in order to pay their rent shortfall, while over a quarter said they had borrowed money.

The policy reduces Housing Benefit for social tenants of working age deemed to have more bedrooms than they require.

Those deemed eligible have had their rent eligible for Housing Benefit reduced by 14% for one spare room and 25% for two or more.

Only 4.5% of affected tenants were reported by landlords to have downsized over the first six months of the scheme, a key aim of the policy. A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said such figures were ‘a promising start’.

While one in five affected tenants had registered to downsize, barriers to moving included attachement to an area, employment and support networks and lack of suitable alternative accommodation.

The report found evidence that tenants living in areas with a high proportion of people affected by the ‘bedroom tax’ were finding it harder to downsize than those in areas where lower numbers are affected.

The report said: ‘At the time of the research, four out of five claimants affected by the RSRS were reported by landlords to be paying some or all of their shortfall, although half of these had failed to pay in full. There was widespread concern about the impact of potential future evictions on local services, and on landlord finances as well as on the lives of vulnerable people.

‘Few tenants have found work or taken in lodgers. However, demand for downsizing has been greater than anticipated, although, in many areas, this demand has thus far been difficult to meet.’

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said the report ‘lays bare the damage wreaked’ by the policy.

‘Fewer than one in ten landlords say that government help for struggling tenants is working well and local authorities report that it is making it more difficult for them to house homeless single people.

‘The “bedroom tax” is one of the most pointlessly cruel welfare policies instigated by a government that remains determined to take away the safety net that so many rely upon.’

Commenting on the findings, David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: ‘ Time and time again it has been shown that the “bedroom tax” is pushing people into rent arrears and people have been unable to downsize because of a lack of smaller properties.

‘Now the figures from the DWP prove it is not working, surely now it is time for the government to admit they got it wrong and repeal this ill-thought policy.’