Third sector unites against bedroom tax

A coalition of housing charities, church and campaign organizations have joined forces against the bedroom tax.

Cardiff & South Wales Against the Bedroom Tax, which unites Shelter Cymru, Welsh Tenants, TPAS Cymru and the Church in Wales, has started an online petition urging the Welsh Government to subsidise the tax.

Best estimates indicate the operation would cost Welsh taxpayers around £17 million.

A protester demonstrating against the bedroom tax in London. Image: Paul Bevan

The coalition says they are aware of the budgetary challenges posed by central government cuts, but believe that mitigating the tax is necessary.

Campaign co-ordinator Jamie Insole says, “The tax is not just hitting vulnerable groups like single parents, disabled and mentally ill. More than that, it is creating vulnerability.”

The petition is open until 8 February 2016.

The bedroom tax is a change in housing benefit introduced by the central government in April 2013.

Strictly speaking it is not a tax, but a cut of housing benefit for households deemed to have a spare room. It is also called “under-occupancy charge”.

Data from Cardiff & South Wales Against the Bedroom Tax suggest about 33,000 households are hit by the tax in Wales alone.

With the bedroom tax, households lose 14% of the benefit they can claim if they have one spare bedroom, and 25% if they have two.

The number of bedrooms a household can claim depends on the number of people living in the house.

Scotland set a precedent scrapping the bedroom tax in February 2014.

Houses in Cardiff