Express & Star

Arrears for 60pc of Sandwell residents as 'bedroom tax' hits

Nearly two-thirds of people affected by the controversial bedroom tax in one borough have already fallen behind on their rent payments since the policy took effect, it can be revealed today.

Published
Placards from a demonstration against the government's 'Bedroom Tax' last year.

Out of 3,803 Sandwell people affected by the removal of the Government's spare room subsidy, 2,432 have now fallen into rent arrears.

But the Labour-led council has not yet evicted anyone for falling into arrears as a result of what has become widely known as the bedroom tax.

Councillor Steve Eling, the borough council's finance chief, gave council officers the go-ahead to develop a strategy earlier this year to identify individuals falling behind on rent, and help them if they are eligible for support in the form of discretionary housing payments.

These are payments to meet the shortfall between housing benefit and rent liability for tenants. He said the revelation of the proportion of people falling behind on their rent who were affected by the policy showed it was not working.

He said: "The way government benefits reforms have played out on the ground is tens of millions of pounds have been spent on welfare changes which haven't worked and have caused a lot of misery.

"A significant proportion of people affected by this policy have accrued arrears. This policy was about nothing else than reducing the benefits bill from the start. Anything else that was said about it was a smokescreen.

"There simply are not enough properties for people to move to downsize. No-one wants to evict a family but the reality is we are going to have situations where people will have to be evicted. We're very much looking to be proactive and help people avoid debt and arrears, and eviction would be the very last resort. We're doing all we can to avoid getting to that stage.

"We can't pretend bedroom tax does not exist. We've got to deal with it but it's causing an enormous amount of hardship."

The numbers of people in arrears and affected by the policy were revealed under the Freedom of Information Act after a request by a member of the public.

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