MPs have urged the Scottish government to provide funding to enable every local authority to refund those hit by the bedroom tax.
All rental arrears should be written off and any additional rent paid as a result of the spare room subsidy should be repaid, according to the Scottish Affairs Committee.
The call follows the UK Government’s decision to allow Scottish ministers to set the statutory cap on discretionary housing payments (DHP) – allowing them to increase support available to those affected by the bedroom tax.
Around 80,000 people have been affected by the spare room subsidy with claimants losing £12 a week on average. It equates to a third of working age adults in Scotland who claim housing benefit.
Ian Davidson MP, chair of the committee, said: ‘The Scottish Government should make a clear commitment to provide sufficient funding to enable every local authority in Scotland to make DHP payments which will cover the full costs of the bedroom tax since it was introduced for all of those who have been affected by it.
‘That means paying the bedroom tax for every Scottish tenant for the current financial year.
‘But it also means giving Scotland’s councils enough money to write off bedroom tax arrears that accrued during the previous financial year and, crucially, to refund all additional rent that has been paid as a result of the bedroom tax. To fail to do this would be penalising those who scrimped and saved and did their best to make extra payments that they never should have had to make.’
