Loose talk by Job Centre DWP staff!

 Manchester LibDem Cllr. John Leech* reports:

Responding to the shocking comments made by DWP staff about Universal Credit claimants, the Liberal Democrats have blamed "Boris Johnson’s hateful Tory Government" for promoting hateful language.

Benefits managers have been caught on tape making horrifying comments about claimants including blowing them up with a grenade and “faking it", according to the Mirror on Sunday.

In one conversation a manager says: “The police sometimes have sting operations where they gather people together. We should nominate one person to throw a grenade in.”

One said they “have absolutely no time” for claimants with depression and anxiety.

The Liberal Democrats have blamed "Boris Johnson’s hateful Tory Government" for "actively promoting cruel language."

Liberal Democrat John Leech voted against the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and was the very first MP in the House of Commons to speak out against key parts of the Act including the Under Occupancy Penalty (‘Bedroom Tax’) and Universal Credit.

*  John Leech was one of two Lib Dem MPs to vote against entering Coalition in 2010 and the very first MP to speak out against the under-occupancy penalty (commonly called the 'bedroom tax') in Parliament.

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Bedroom tax campaigner lambasts Tameside local press for bias!

 

The above photo shows an action in the campaign against the Jobseeker's Allowance outside Burnley Jobcentre in the 1990s:  in the foreground on the left is Steve (Starlord) Fisher. 

 

WE are publishing below a letter that was sent last week to both the Tameside Advertiser and the Tameside Reporter and Chronicle newspapers, from local environmental activist, Steve (Starlord) Fisher (pictured above).  The issue of a free press in Tameside is something that we have previously reported on in Northern Voices. In September 2012, in an exclusive, we revealed that the Tameside Reporter had been bought by New Charter Housing Ltd, a housing company that also owns Tameside Radio and has close links to the Labour council in Tameside. In 2008, we also reported in Northern Voices magazine, claims made by  Private Eye magazine (1220) that  Tameside Council was meeting with local newspaper editors to 'suppress sensationalist reporting'.  We have no misgivings about publishing Mr Fisher's epistle in full because we share many of his concerns about press censorship.  This concern was also noted by one of our readers who predicted at the time of the takeover that we would see, the 'banning of dissenting voices' and lashings of corporate agenda.  Should anyone therefore be surprised that local newspaper sales are plummeting. 

'Many readers of your "redoubtable" newspaper are no doubt reading under the illusion that it reports fairly and faithfully on current affairs in Tameside.  Well I can assure you that's not the case at all.  They can't honestly say they didn't know, that they can't report on everything, that it's neutral in its reportage.  Far from it, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue.  How do I know this you might ask?  Well I'll tell you.

 

'I and many of my friends in 'Tameside Against the Cuts' have been protesting unstintingly every Thursday afternoon for the last 6 months outside Ashton Jobcentre against 'work-for-dole' and illegal & unlawful Benefit Sanctions and many other social injustices.

 

'The local press have been told many times by phone and email.  We've invited them but they're just not interested & to date no article has been published about our important voluntary "Community Contribution".  That is the level of biased reportage in Tameside.

 

'Our "Community Contribution" counts for nothing, jarring no doubt with New Charter's social engineering agenda. They do not approve of our activities.  We do not even meet with their new conditionality criteria for getting a New Charter tenancy.  They simply don't recognise our way of "giving something back", failing to recognise the positive work that we do in the community.  But who put them in charge? No one! They just own and control the bulk of Tameside Social Housing, the Tameside Reporter, and Tameside Radio in their empire building 'Quest' for power and influence.

 

'Astonishingly, I recently read 3 articles about a new related campaign launched outside Hyde Town Hall by Emma Mohareb-Leyla in January:  I've been told she was also published in the Manchester Evening News.  It's great that she's been able to highlight some of the issues we've been campaigning about for the last 2 years!  So why have we been ignored?  We are treated like lepers!  Why has it taken somebody else to get this published? How does one get an audience with the press-barons of Tameside?

 

'On the 25th September 2013 one of my 3 letters about the Bedroom Tax was published in the Reporter. Every reference to New Charter was excised! New Charter then had the gall to publish their riposte the following week! Where's the editorial independence when a social landlord like New Charter have a vested interest in the Bedroom Tax?

 

'My last published letter was about KFC in Hyde, but that too was severely edited culling most of the really interesting stuff. My next 4 letters in a row went unpublished. It's really hard to get a letter published in the local press let alone articles reporting what's actually happening in Tameside.

 

'For the last 2 years Tameside Against the Cuts have protested all over Ashton: on Ashton Town Hall steps and Market ground & outside Ashton Magistrates court against TMBC's unfair Council Tax and their use of Marstons bailiffs; outside New Charter Housing & Ashton Pioneer Homes against the Bedroom Tax (tenants have been evicted); & outside parasitic Work Programme Provider organisations paid thousands of pounds by the Government to force the unemployed to work for their dole and undermine wages!  They are treated worse than many convicted criminals.  To date we've targeted only StandGuide, but i2i, Work Solutions, and Avanta, are also in our sights lest they think they've been forgotten!  We are well aware of a number of slave-labour stores in Tameside and would like to target them too!

 

'We've very effectively concentrated our efforts on Ashton Jobcentre where many of the poor and the vulnerable can be found.  These innocents have been unfairly targeted by the Tories ideological agenda and made to pay for the gambling excesses & extravagances of the greedy and materialistic rich and powerful.

 

'Ashton Jobcentre was chosen by this poxy proxy Government to pilot their draconian Universal Credit which gambles with the lives of the poor, making them destitute & homeless, driven to foodbanks and even to suicide.  Worse still this avowedly Tameside Labour Council are collaborators. These turncoats capitulated and rolled-over to have their belly's tickled. They feebly argue that they had to be in it in order to 'shape it'! Yet after 2 years they refuse to say how they've 'shaped-it' with apparently nothing to show for their treacherous behaviour.

 

'The name Universal Credit tells you all you need to know. For one it ain't universal! Secondly 'credit' is a proxy for debt.  We live in a consumer 'credit' society, for which read "debt" society, in which we subsist, bound in servitude to the rich. The vast majority are indebted to and enslaved by the rich.

 

'What is needed is far more revolutionary, the introduction of a Universal Unconditional Guaranteed Basic Income Scheme for ALL to ensure a basic or minimum level of existence for all as a right whether in work or not which is in harmony with the principle of Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'. That would indeed be truly universal unlike Universal Credit which is not!  This Government have the vision of a bat out of hell knowing only the price of everything but the value of nothing.

 

'A Basic Income would really empower the poor who could then truly choose when and where to work, and to do 'Good Work'. Those who want to have more than the bare necessities of life can work for them to satisfy their desires, but no longer can they force people to labour for them.

 

'This is the politics of fairness, not the politics of envy. I have no desire to be rich, nor do I desire to be poor.  I desire the freedom to serve as I see fit to fulfill my soul purpose on earth.  Those infected with the disease of greed can still work and be rich if they so wish. They could also seek psychotherapeutic help.  They could perhaps even take-up Buddhism.' 

Bedroom Tax campaigner goes to Supreme Court!

Manchester tenant Meryvn Drage  (57) of Bradford Court in Moston, has appealed against the Bedroom Tax.

His case has been taken all the way to the highest court in Britain, the supreme Court (House of Lords). A date for this hearing has yet to be set.

 

Meryvn is being represented by the Public Law Defenders. His is a test case. The outcome will have an effect all the other appeals against the Bedroom Tax. That is the reason so many other appeals have been held up. 

Solicitor Ann McMurdie, from Public Law Defenders will give an update on the challenges to the Bedroom Tax in the Courts.

Like many who have been hit by the Bedroom Tax, Mervyn has a number of mental health conditions. To be forced to move away from his home would have a detrimental effect on his life and his health.

Mervyn has joined marches and protest against the Bedroom Tax since its introduction in April 2013.

The legal speak for his appeal is:

'The Claimant is a 56 year old sole tenant of a three bedroom flat initially allocated to him in 1994 when it was hard to let. He has a number of physical and mental health problems including depression, anxiety and OCD together with persecutory delusions from time to time. His condition is aggravated by stress and changes of routine and his disability means that it would be unreasonable to move or share occupation of his flat.'

Tory Bedroom Tax eviction widow forced to sleep with COWS!

We are publishing below an article by Nick Dorman, which appeared in the Sunday People on 27 September 2014:

"A widow who is going blind was forced to live in a field with cattle after she was evicted from her home of 30 years ­because she couldn’t ­pay a £210 Bedroom Tax bill.

Carol Sutherland, 56, covered herself with a plastic sheet and hay in a ­desperate bid to keep dry and warm, writes Nick Dorman in the Sunday People. She had to dig a hole under a hedge to use as a toilet.
And her weight plunged to 6½st as she struggled to survive after being kicked out of her two-bed council flat.

The scandal is yet another example of the misery caused by a tax the Sunday People has been campaigning to have scrapped since it became law in 2012. Its latest victim Carol said: “I’d lived in my lovely flat for 30 years and even though I didn’t have much, I had a roof over my head and my dignity.

“When I was in the field I could not believe it had come to that. I cried so much I didn’t have any tears left.”
Bailiffs booted Carol out after she told a housing officer she couldn’t ­afford the £11.35-a-week spare-room penalty imposed as part of Tory Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare shake-up.

Carol had been struggling to get by on a widow’s pension of just £90 a month since a heart attack killed her husband Peter in 2001. Her rent and council tax were covered for her by public money.
But everything else – including power bills – was funded from her pitiful £3-a-day pension.

Carol’s plight meant she was eligible for further housing ­benefits and employment ­support allowance.
But she insisted she didn’t know about them because no one had ever mentioned them to her.
Carol (pictured) who gave up trying to have children after a string of miscarriages – said: “Things went pear-shaped after my husband died and I started losing my sight with cataracts.
“I just about managed on his pension without claiming ­anything else.
“When I started getting letters from the council I couldn’t read them. I asked them to send the details in bigger print – but they never did.

“So I ignored them until a housing officer turned up and told me I was in arrears with bedroom tax payments.
“I told him I couldn’t afford it and the next thing I knew the bailiffs were at the door.”
Carol, who has depression, claimed she was given an hour to pack up her possessions as the flat in Waddington, Lincs, was cleared in April.
She said: “I was in such a state I couldn’t find the only picture I have of my mum and dad.

“I had to tell the bailiffs I couldn’t afford to pay for any of my stuff to go into storage so they might as well take it all – which they did.”

She gave a neighbour her pet canary and went to stay with a friend, having lost touch with her own family.

But a week later she moved out, spent a night in a bus-shelter, then built her rudimentary camp in a cow-field. Carol said: “My friend would have lost her housing benefits if I’d carried on staying with her so I decided the field was my only solution.”

The decision was not as bizarre as it sounds because as the daughter of an agricultural labourer she had grown up on a farm helping with animals as well as planting and picking crops.

Recalling her time living rough, Carol said: “I’d walk round the village by day and at night I’d go to the field and bed down under the plastic.

“When I needed the loo I’d dig a hole in a hedgerow and I didn’t bother combing my hair or washing.” She added: “You don’t think it’s mad when you’re as low as I was then.”

Carol was finally rescued by worried Waddington friends who took her to the church of St Mary-le-Wigford in nearby Lincoln, the base of a charity helping the vulnerable.

City councillor Jackie Kirk, who helps to run the project, found Carol a bed at a shelter for the homeless.

Jackie said: “Carol is a remarkably brave woman. She worked all her life and after her husband died she was eligible for Employment Support Allowance and Discretionary Housing Payments. “

But as many vulnerable people discover too late, if you don’t know you’re entitled and don’t ­apply you end up as a victim of the system.”

And Carol said: “I’d like David Cameron to spend a day with me so he could see the impact his government’s Bedroom Tax has on people like me who already live below the poverty line."

Benefit Justice & Bedroom Tax

ANTI Bedroom tax and benefit cuts campaigners across England and Wales are meeting 7 June in Manchesterto decide our next steps to beat the Bedroom Tax and benefit cuts:

Speakers/sessions:

Scottish Bed Tax Federation, Owen Jones and MP Linda Riordan (who voted against the Welfare cap) invited; DPAC and trade union speakers; plus legal session on how to stop evictions, and on benefit sanctions and workfare.

Make sure you're there, and your group sends people to hear what's happening across Britain and decide what we do next. We need plans to keep politicians under pressure on Bedroom Tax and benefit cuts in the election year.

What you can do now:
* Send suggestions and proposals for the event * let us know who's coming *ask unions and others to help pay for travel *bring photos and reports

Anti Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice national meeting:
7 June 12-5pm Central Hall Oldham St Manchester M1 1JQ. 

Eileen Short

Anti Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice Federation (England and Wales)

Lib-Dems to oppose bedroom tax?

THE Liberal Democrats are likely to oppose the bedroom tax at the next election unless it is reformed, the party president has suggested.

Tim Farron, President of the Lib-Dems said he would be ‘disappointed’ if the party supported the policy in its current state in its 2015 manifesto.  In an exclusive interview with Inside Housing Mr Farron, who is currently developing the party’s housing policy, criticised the under-occupation penalty for impacting the ‘most vulnerable’ and reducing the amount available to invest in new homes.

He said the policy - which was backed by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg - needed to be amended ‘in the next parliament’ and said ‘these discussions are happening already’.  Adding,
‘I would be disappointed if we did support it in its current form,’ he said, ‘I do not expect our party to support this policy unreformed, we must take time to fix it, learn some lessons and make sure that it doesn’t hurt the most vulnerable in our communities.’

Mr Farron was one of just two Liberal Democrats to vote against the bedroom tax during Labour’s opposition day debate in November.  However, he voted against introducing exceptions proposed by the House of Lords in February 2012. These included tenants with disabled children, foster carers and those with one excess bedroom where no alternative accommodation was available.  

He praised Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat pensions minister, for helping to increase the pot of discretionary housing payments available to those affected to £155 million, but criticised the bedroom tax on three grounds.  ‘It’s creating more hardship, it’s wrong and unnecessary… It’s impacting on people and the most vulnerable. It’s also having an impact on housing associations - it means they have less to invest in social housing,’ he said.  ‘I worry about distorting the building market. Currently we are building lots of one-bedroom properties which is reacting to a policy and it’s not in the long-term interest of the country.’ 

At the Liberal Democrat conference in September, grass-roots members passed a motion by a landslide vote condemning the policy for ‘discriminating against the most vulnerable in society’.

Bedroom Tax Loophole Closes Today!

A loophole which allowed thousands of tenants to escape the bedroom tax closes today.

The exemption applied to tenants who have been continuously claiming housing benefit from before 1 January 1996 and have lived at the same address.

An amendment to the Housing Benefit Regulations to close this loophole, introduced in February, comes into force today.

The ‘eligible rent’ referred to in bedroom tax regulations does not apply prior to 1 January 1996, when a previous set of rules existed, meaning those living in the property prior to this date should not have been affected.

The regulations coming into force today change the definition of eligible rent.

The Department for Work and Pensions has said those wrongly charged since 1 April, when the policy was introduced, should receive a refund.  It estimated around 5,000 tenants were impacted, while other housing experts have put the figure much higher.

'Bedroom Tax' loophole could see up to 40,000 exempted!

Working age tenants who live in social housing, may be exempt from the 'Bedroom Tax' if the have lived in the same house since before before 1996 and have been claiming housing benefit continuously since then.

Housing experts estimate that up to 40,000 households could be affected and the cost of refunds could run into the millions of pounds, along with associated legal costs and compensation for families who had to pay removal companies to move out of their homes. All could be eligible for refunds worth on average at least £640 per claimant, credited to their rent account.

According to the Guardian, this would have applied to Stephanie Bottril, of Solihull, who took her own life in May last year, after blaming the government's 'Bedroom Tax' for making her life impossible. In a circular to Housing Benefit Staff, the DWP have confirmed that some tenants are exempt under this loophole which they are intending to close.

Bedroom Tax Loophole Confirmed!

THE Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) has now confirmed a ‘bedroom tax’ loophole for long standing tenants. 

A legal loophole which makes long standing housing benefit claimants exempt from the ‘bedroom tax’ has been confirmed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Yesterday the DWP has issued a circular (HB U1 2014) to local authorities which stated that size criteria rules should not have been applied to tenants who have had a continuous claim for housing benefit, and have occupied the same property, since at least 1 January 1996. It is understood to have been identified because the ‘eligible rent’ referred to in bedroom tax regulations does not apply prior to 1 January 1996, when a previous set of rules existed. The ruling means that affected tenants will be able to apply to their local authority to have their claim reassessed under the correct rules and will be able to receive money backdated to April 2013 regardless of how many bedrooms are in the home.

Those who might benefit from the loophole include:
•Tenants receiving housing benefit who are under pension age, who have lived at the same address since 1996, and who have been in receipt of housing benefit throughout that time (with any break in housing benefit not exceeding four weeks);

•Tenants who may have ‘inherited’ a claim for housing benefit from family members living at the same property, provided that the current claimant has resided at the property since 1996 and provided that both the original and the current claimant, between them, have sustained a continuous claim throughout with any break not exceeding four weeks. Social landlords trying to identify cases who might benefit from this have been urged to keep an eye on DWP information. The department has said that it will amend regulations so that any award will only last up to the point that new regulations come into effect.

CIH director of policy and practice Gavin Smart said:
'It’s important that social landlords are aware of the loophole and take steps to make sure tenants are aware of it too so they are able to obtain reimbursement if they fall into this category.  However, they also need to keep an eye on the information issued by the DWP as the loophole is likely to be closed – the bulletin states the department will be taking steps to ‘remedy’ it shortly. Local authorities are likely to face significant administrative challenges in identifying the tenants affected, but social landlords may be able to help with this as they may have records that go back further.'

From Sylvia Wilson of Homes under Threat Campaign

Elderly dying mum forced to move because of Tory 'Bedroom Tax'!

An 82-year-old sick pensioner, who has less than a year to live, is facing eviction from her three-bedroom home because she cannot afford to pay her Tory Bedroom Tax.

Mary Bennett, a widow from Runcorn, Cheshire, has been told that she must leave the home that she has lived in for the past 20 years because she cannot afford to pay the £14 a week tax. The widow, who’s dying wish was to die at home, suffers from a cardiac condition and dementia. Over the past 20 years, she has spent £10,000 on disability adaptations to her home.

Although pensioners are normally exempt from the Bedroom Tax, Mrs Bennett cannot claim the OAP exemption because her son Alan Clark, 47, is her live-in carer. Mr. Clark gave up his job as a hotel manager, to look after his mother. A discretionary grant from Halton Council has paid the short-fall in Mrs Bennett’s housing benefit since she fell into arrears, but she will be forced to move from her home, when this expires in March.

Alan told the Daily Mirror that though he plans to move his mother to a smaller rented house where his sister lives, he fears that the ‘upheaval could unsettle his ill mother’ and added: “How dare they take away a dying woman’s wish for the sake of £14 a week. It is a travesty.”

A council spokesman told the newspaper: “Discretionary housing payment cannot exceed March 31 in any given year as the council receives annual fund allocation from Government. Until this grant is known any awards cannot be made into the next financial year.”

Since the introduction of the Bedroom Tax in April, thousands of families have been pushed into homelessness and a spiralling cycle of debt as they struggle to pay the tax. According to a recent study, more than half of households hit by the Bedroom Tax have been unable to pay their full rent.

While the Tory government imposes punitive taxation like the Bedroom Tax on hard-up families, it is making the British taxpayer foot a £1 million legal bill so that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, can go into battle with Brussels to defend banker’s mega-bonuses. The chancellor has filed a complaint against the European Union (EU) over its plans to cap bonuses, even though this measure has the support of the EU’s twenty-six other European Finance Ministers. 

New Charter Housing call on police to evict Bedroom Tax protestors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday 21st September 2013 'Tameside Stop the Bedroom Tax & the Cuts' engaged in a peaceful protest demonstrating against the scandalous Bedroom Tax outside the Headquarters of New Charter Housing Trust Limited in Ashton-under-Lyne. The company are by far the biggest social landlord in Tameside, and being the biggest, they ought to be leading the fight against the Bedroom Tax, working alongside tenants in opposition to it which they have signally failed to do so far.

 

On  Saturday, New Charter held their annual 'jewel in the crown' Resident Showcase event. This was an ideal opportunity to reach out to tenants especially the 1,700 New Charter tenants that are affected by the Bedroom Tax. New Charter say they are opposed to the Bedroom Tax, but seem unwilling to join with tenants to oppose it? Actions speak louder than words!  New Charter haven't shown any real opposition to the Bedroom Tax even though housing boss, Ian Munro, declared it to be 'unfair and incompetent'. They have also declined to reclassify bedrooms to circumvent the tax in order to help tenants to remain in their homes and are pursuing legal action, against their tenants for Bedroom Tax arrears. 

 

The protestors  arrived outside the front entrance of New Charter H.Q. at 10:30 and set themselves up without obstructing entry. Shortly after tenants began to arrive, New Charter staff came out in force to form a  'cordon sanitaire', with three or four of them standing in a line with their backs towards the protestors trying to confine them to the wall area thereby blocking access to passing tenants. As tenants were guided into the building, they were told to ignore the protestors. 

 

New Charter staff initially refused to take any leaflets but one was seen to snatch a copy at the side entrance, which he tore in half as he angrily scrunched it up. As a protestor with his megaphone, called on New Charter to adopt a Bedroom Tax no evictions policy, a prominent New Charter tenant representative, Belinda Jeffrey, was seen to give  'the finger' to protestors from inside the building.  It is also understood that one female tenant, who was attending the event, asked if she could use the megaphone, then called  the protestors 'wankers'!  

An hour into the protest, the police arrived after being summoned by New Charter. The Bedroom Tax protestors were told that there had been a report that people had felt harassed and intimidated. After being reassured by protestors that this was  peaceful demonstration on the International Day of Peace,  the officer left, much to the chagrin of New Charter Housing staff.

 

The very purpose of the annual Residents Showcase event is for tenants to SHOWCASE what THEY are doing for tenants and the wider community as long as this doesn't involve campaigning against the Bedroom Tax, or treading on New Charter's big corns.

 

Steve (Starlord) Fisher, a protest organiser, told NV blog:  

 

"We had a very successful day and great fun was had by all. We had a wonderful time and would like to thank New Charter for the kindness they  have so far shown to everyone affected by this atrocious Bedroom Tax, brought-in by this wretched Tory-led government that is cutting taxes for the rich while introducing punitive taxation, for the most vulnerable people in society.

 

While it is excellent news to hear that Labour if elected, have pledged to repeal the Bedroom Tax, social landlords and council's, should in the meantime adopt a no evictions policy and cease pressuring tenants to leave their homes to move to smaller properties. We expect Tameside Labour to come off the fence and support the campaign against this iniquitous tax. We will also continue to protest and work in the best interests of tenants."  

Bedroom Tax & UN Findings

Raquel Rolnik answers criticisms by Tory Chairman

THE UN special rapporteur for housing denied allegations of bias, as she launched a stinging attack on the UK’s ‘retrogressive’ housing policy this morning.

Raquel Rolnik has come under fire from Conservative chair Grant Shapps, after she recommended suspending and reviewing the bedroom tax following a two-week fact-finding mission in the UK.
Her preliminary report – which also recommends regulating the private sector and significantly increasing the social housing stock – was branded an ‘absolute disgrace’ by the former housing minister.

He accused her of coming with an agenda, without invitation and not meeting government departments.  ‘This is absolutely not true,’ she told reporters in central London after presenting her report.  ‘I have met officials from many departments, and the details of these meetings are all listed within my report.’

She was said to have met officials from the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Communities and Local Government department during her visit, as well as brief personal meetings with secretary of state Eric Pickles and communities minister Don Foster:  ‘This was an official visit – I was invited by the UK government and it was organised by the UK government.’

The rapporteur presented a preliminary report to the media which said she has ‘serious concerns’ about the ‘deterioration’ of the right to housing in the UK.
‘Unfortunately, the system has been weakened by a series of measures over the years, notably by having privileged homeownership over other forms of tenure,’ she said, ‘I am concerned about the conditions of private renters, as the reduction in the social housing stock and the credit downturn has forced a higher percentage of the population – notably young people – to the private sector, with substantial impact on affordability, location and tenure security.’

She recommended regulation of the private rented sector, including clear criteria about affordability, access to information and security of tenure. She did not rule out recommending rent caps.  She also suggested a ‘more balanced approach to public funding for the supply of social housing’, and criticised the government for reducing the subsidy.

Commenting on the bedroom tax, she said she had heard ‘dramatic testimonies’ about its impact across the country – in particular from grandparents who act as carers and from disabled people.
‘I am not talking about numbers, I am talking about human beings,’ she said, ‘Just one human being is enough for this to be a breach of human rights.’

She described the welfare reform programme as a whole as a ‘trap’, and said she would issue further recommendations in her final report – due to be published in March – about policies such as the housing benefit cap.  She also raised concerns over help to buy, which she said was having a negative effect on those in social housing waiting lists by raising house prices and rents, and said the government should seek to boost the economy by delivering more social housing instead.
From WWW.INSIDEHOUSING.CO.UK

Miss Rolnik & Tory Chair, Grant Shapps

The Conservative chairman has said that the UN special rapporteur on housing’s report urging the government to scrap the bedroom tax is an ‘absolute disgrace’.

Speaking on the Today programme yesterday morning, Grant Shapps said Raquel Rolnik, the ‘woman from Brazil’, clearly came with an agenda and he was going to take action about it today.  He said: ‘I think this report is an absolute disgrace and I’m going to write to the UN secretary general today to find out how this came about,’ he said.  Adding:  ‘How a woman from Brazil, which has 50 million people living in inadequate housing, has come over and failed to meet with any government ministers, with any officials from the Department for Work and Pensions or even refer to the policy by its correct name anywhere in the report at all.  To issue a press release this morning – two weeks after coming over when the full report is not due until the spring next year. She has clearly come with an agenda and has biased her own position.’

He also said Miss Rolnik was ‘absolutely not’ invited by the government and the only officials she had met during her visit were from the wrong department – the Communities and Local Government department rather than the DWP.

Miss Rolnik said on the programme that she had found the bedroom tax to be ‘a measure which appears to have been taken without the human component in mind’. She said she had received testimonies from hundreds of people affected and that she had met with ‘a lot’ of people during her trip including a lot of councils who she said were ‘dealing with major issues’ related to the tax.
‘My recommendation is that the government should suspend this policy in order to better assess and monitor its impact on human rights then eventually redesign it.’

Wigan man hangs himself over 'Bedroom Tax'!

The following report which we are publishing, appeared in the local newspaper, 'Wigan Today'.

"A MAN saddled with extra debt after a hike in his rent because of the bedroom tax took his own life, an inquest heard.
Bolton Coroner’s Court was told John Walker, from Marsh Green, was found hanged at his home by his former partner Susan Martin in May after she went to his home as he had sounded upset and low during their phone conversations.

The court heard Mr Walker, 57, had been worried about mounting financial problems with loans and his credit card due to being out of work, and had also disagreed with the JobCentre who had told him he was fit to work despite his complaints of an injury to his back.

His difficulties with money were compounded by being forced to pay extra rent on his property under the so-called “bedroom tax”, which was introduced earlier this year.

The inquest was also told Mr Walker had problems with heavy drinking, and was upset when he was unable to provide presents for his daughter because he had blown money set aside on booze.

Ms Martin told the court: “In the weeks leading up to his death a few things troubled him. He was out of work and struggling to pay a loan, and he was also still trying to pay for a place in Torquay which had been repossessed and sold for less than we bought it for.

“He didn’t really express his feelings but things upset him. I still tried to see him regularly because he had distanced himself from a lot of his friends and his family back in Birmingham.”

Mr Walker came to Wigan in 2001 and later moved into the property in Hampden Place where he was living at the time of his death. Born in the West Midlands he had previously moved to Weymouth, where he worked in holiday camps, and to Torquay, where he found work in a hotel.

Police quickly ruled outfoul play and officers also found a note in the property.

A post-mortem investigation revealed the only system in his body at the time of his death were low levels of paracetamol consistent with medicinal use and could not have impaired his judgement.

Recording a suicide verdict, deputy coroner Alan Walsh said: “To some extent, his life was ruined by his inability to stop drinking.”

Warning to Housing Association Staff

Potential Threat from Bedroom Tax Protestors

A Merseyside housing association is advising office staff not to display their uniforms or name badges outside work hours due to fears for their safety from bedroom tax protestors. 

First Ark, the parent company of Knowsley Housing Trust, which owns around 14,000 homes, issued the warning to nearly 500 staff in an internal newsletter last week. 

The message follows months of protests in the region about the bedroom tax, under which working-age social housing tenants with a spare bedroom have their benefit reduced.

A number of campaigners have held protests outside the offices of housing associations which they deem to be ‘complicit’ in the tax due to their need to collect rent. 

A spokesperson for KHT, which has around 3,000 tenants affected by the bedroom tax, said: ‘Due to the number of protests there have been in the region about the bedroom tax and the intensity of feeling around evictions, we have advised staff to take extra precautions to minimise risk if they are wearing KHT uniforms or badges outside work hours.’

He added that front line staff have received training to deal with ‘confrontational situations’ because of the nature of their jobs which office staff have not had.

Other Merseyside landlords, including Halton Housing Trust, Liverpool Mutual Homes and One Vision Housing, have no plans to follow KHT’s lead. 

Hugh Owen, director of policy and communications at Riverside, said he has not been aware of ‘bedroom tax-related threats’ against its staff and said Riverside has no plans to issue a warning. But he added: ‘I know employees are finding encounters with tenants more difficult because of the distressing circumstances people are finding themselves in.’ 

Joanna Walker, spokesperson for lone worker safety charity Suzy Lamplugh Trust backed KHT’s move. She said: ‘It makes sense for workers to keep the aggression to a minimum by taking name badges off.’

Man cuts throat with knife in protest over bedroom tax!

The following report which we are publishing in full, by Oliver Cray, is taken from the Runcorn and  Widnes Weekly News.

A MAN cut his throat with a knife in a Runcorn benefits advice office during an outburst about the bedroom tax.

An eyewitness, who asked not be identified, heard the middle-aged man say he was ‘sick of all this sh*t’ then watched him drag a blade through skin from his ear down to his throat on each side of his neck.

The wounds left him and the floor spattered with blood, the witness said.

Staff hit an emergency alarm during the incident.

It happened at about 2pm on Monday, at Halton Direct Link in Halton Lea shopping centre.
Cheshire police officers have spoken to the man, who suffered ‘minor injuries’, about his wellbeing.

No criminal offences were reported.

Halton Borough Council said he was receiving support following the incident, as are Link staff.
The witness, who was waiting in line to see an adviser, said no other residents reacted to the outburst but that staff seemed ‘a little bit shocked’.

He said: “From what I could see, the bloke had gone to see an adviser".

"He was upset about the bedroom tax and wasn’t getting through and he started to cut his throat on both sides and threw the knife on the floor and he had blood coming from his neck.There was a lot of blood but it hadn’t come out of his artery, he wasn’t gushing out blood. He went through the side of his neck from his ear to the front. It would have needed medical attention. Everyone was just sat about normal waiting to go and see the adviser. I was in the queue. Nobody did nothing.”

A Halton Council spokesman said: “We are aware of this incident. The person concerned is receiving appropriate support and we are supporting our staff who witnessed the incident.”

High Court 'devastating' ruling on bedroom tax

THE High Court in London has dismissed a legal challenge to the Government’s 'bedroom tax' after judges ruled that the policy did not disproportionately discriminate against disabled people.  However, the High Court said ministers must now make regulations 'very speedily' to ensure there is 'no deduction of housing benefit where an extra bedroom is required for children who are unable to share because of their disabilities'.

Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said the ruling would be ‘devastating’ for disabled adults and families with disabled of vulnerable children.  He said:
'As a result of today’s ruling we’re really concerned that these families will now face a real struggle to meet their rent and may end up losing their home.'

The judicial review of the 'spare room subsidy' was brought by 10 families with disabled or vulnerable children, who argued the under-occupation penalty discriminates against claimants who are disabled or have disabled family members.

Since 1 April 2013, persons deemed to have one spare bedroom have had their housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent and persons deemed to have two, or more, spare bedrooms have had their housing benefit reduced by 25 per cent. 

The claimants all argued that these new housing benefit rules discriminated against people with disabilities. But the court ruled that discrimination against adults with disabilities, even those in the same situation to children with disabilities who could not share a room, was justified. Lawyers for adults with disabilities confirmed that they intend to appeal the ruling, arguing that the discriminatory impact of the measure on people with disabilities cannot be justified and is unlawful. Disabled children and their families also intend to appeal as ministers have declined to confirm that the new regulations, which the court said must be made, will cover their situations, or to provide a date by which the new regulations will be made.

Housing industry leaders expressed their disappointment at the judgment.

National Housing Federation chief executive, David Orr said:
'We are deeply disappointed with the outcome of today’s High Court judgement. The fact that disabled people are being forced to take the Government to the High Court to challenge the bedroom tax shows how desperate their situation is.'

Housing associations warned from day one that this policy was unworkable.  Disabled people across the country are being forced to cut back on food and heating to pay the bedroom tax, despite the fact that many have had their homes adapted at great cost due to their disabilities: 
'The Government said Discretionary Housing Payments would protect these people, but this is only a temporary measure which is unlikely to provide long-term security for people, and the money available is not enough to go around. “This judgement does not change the fact that the bedroom tax is a flawed and unfair policy that won’t achieve what the Government hopes it will. The only fair solution is to scrap this policy now.'

Grainia Long, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, added:
'This judgement will come as a huge blow for thousands of disabled families who are being unfairly affected by the bedroom tax. “The legal challenges have highlighted the problems caused by having a "one size fits all" system that doesn’t take people’s individual circumstances into account.  Increasing discretionary housing support by £35 million, as the Department for Work and Pensions has announced, is simply not the right way to mitigate the impact this policy is having.'

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said:
'We are pleased to learn that the court has found in our favour and agreed that we have fulfilled our equality duties to disabled people.  Reform of housing benefit in the social sector is essential, so the taxpayer does not pay for people’s extra bedrooms.'

Bedroom Tax: High Court decision today

THE High Court is to rule on whether cuts to housing benefit for social housing residents with spare bedrooms discriminates against disabled people.

Lawyers for 10 families brought a judicial review over the 'bedroom tax' in May this year.  They say the change breaches their clients' human rights because they need the extra space for health reasons.  The families, all disabled or the parents of disabled children, challenged the changes during a three-day hearing. 

The claimants are represented by three law firms and are from various places including London, Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester and Birmingham.  Their lawyers argued the benefit cut violated the Human Rights Act and Equality Act. 

Ugo Hayter from Leigh Day, which is representing two of the claimants said the legislation was "unfair" and had 'disproportionate negative consequences on disabled people and is therefore discriminatory'.

The lawyers also said the £25m the government has made available to councils to make discretionary payments to help disabled people affected by the benefit cuts is insufficient.

The government says the benefit changes were intended to reduce a £21bn annual housing benefit bill and encourage greater mobility in the social rented sector.  The Department of Work and Pensions said it was confident the measures were lawful and do not discriminate against disabled claimants or those with shared care of children. 

At the time of the High Court case, a DWP spokesman said it was 'only right' to bring back fairness to the system and pointed out there were 'two million households on the social housing waiting list and over a quarter of a million tenants... living in overcrowded homes'. 

The DWP added that an extra £150m in total has been made available to councils' funding for vulnerable claimants.
However, the National Housing Federation said earlier this month that the consequences of the change were worse than feared.  Rent arrears have soared in some areas while larger houses are lying empty as people refuse to move into them, it claimed. 

Greater Manchester Anti Bedroom Tax Conference - Saturday 20 July, Manchester.

FEDERATION RALLY and CONFERENCE
1pm - 4pm Sat 20th July
Friends Meeting House, Mount St, M2

We are out to Axe the Bedroom Tax. To win we will need to be united, resolute, and organised. This Rally and Conference is open to all those opposed to the Bedroom Tax.

Local Anti Bedroom Tax groups are invited to send delegations of every tenant and activists in their group. Trades Unions and supporting organisations are invited to send representatives.

This rally and conference is to establish a: Greater Manchester Federation of Anti Bedroom Tax Groups and Supporting Organisations.

Agenda for the Federation Launch

Federation Rally and Conference

1pm - 1.30pm : Registration

1.30pm - 3pm : Rally Against the Bedroom Tax
Speakers from local groups, DPAC, trades unions, other Federations (Liverpool, Leeds, Scotland) Cllrs*, supporting organisations

3pm - 4pm : Conference to establish the Federation
Proposed statement (amendments to be submitted before 15thJuly)
Federation Committee elections (nominations to be submitted by 15th July)
Final remarks

*see Councillors against Bedroom Tax and Benefit Cuts statement
Click read more below

Files:

Fed_Launch_Courts_Demo
Flyer for Federation and March to the Court
2013-07-05  46.06 KB  38

Councillors against Bedroom Tax and Benefit Cuts

We are Councillors opposed to the injustice of the Bedroom Tax and other benefit cuts.

It is wrong and unworkable to target the poorest, sick and disabled people. It is unjustifiable that the poorest 21% are being hit with 39% of all the austerity cuts.

Rent and Council Tax arrears are mounting fast, and it is not fair, reasonable or viable to recover these arrears or evict tenants. Central Government should compensate Councils and landlords for the bad debts they have caused.

We oppose anyone losing their home or being forced to move due to the Bedroom Tax or other unjust benefit cuts, and call on landlords not to evict those pushed into arrears due to these measures.  Councils that have pledged not to evict those forced into arrears and calling on local landlords to do the same, and those ‘redesignating’ bedrooms to avoid the Bedroom Tax, are taking practical action to support tenants and expose these unworkable measures.

We support joint action by Councillors along with local and national Anti Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice campaigns, to link up across Britain, expose and actively oppose these benefit cuts, and demand their repeal.

Lord Freud's bedroom tax warning

THE Government has threatened to withdraw or restrict housing benefit subsidy to councils which 'inappropriately' reclassify properties for bedroom tax purposes. 

In a letter to council chief executives, Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud said there have been cases of councils redesignating properties without reducing their rent to reflect a loss of a bedroom. Lord Freud said he expects 'the designation of a property to be consistent for both housing benefit and rent purposes'.

The letter stated:
'Blanket redesignations without a clear and justifiable reason and without reductions in rent, are inappropriate and do not fall within the spirit of the policy. “If it is shown properties are being redesignated inappropriately this will be viewed very seriously.'

The Department for Work and Pensions suspects properties are being re-designated inappropriately it will commission an independent audit to 'ascertain whether correct and appropriate procedures have been followed'. Lord Freud said redesignating properties without reducing the rent would lead to incorrect housing benefit subsidy claims being submitted to the DWP.

The letter stated:
'Where it is found that a local authority has redesignated properties without reasonable grounds and without reducing rents, my department would consider either restricting or not paying their housing benefit subsidy.'
It added that the DWP has no objections to re-desigations where there are good reasons, such as where a property has been adapted to cater for a disabled person’s needs, but said the designation should be consistent for housing benefit and rent purposes.

Under the bedroom tax, social housing tenants of working age deemed to have spare rooms have their housing benefit cut by £14 a week on average. The policy is intended to save around £500 million a year. The DWP has decided not to define a 'bedroom' for the purposes of the policy, saying instead that it is up to landlords to 'accurately describe the property in line with the rent charged'. This has left open the possibility of landlords reclassifying properties as having fewer bedrooms to enable tenants to avoid the penalty. 
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Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: Rule #76. Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies. 
Sylvia Wilson 
Coordinator: Homes Under Threat (HUT National Network)

01282 604749

sylvia@homesunderthreat.co.uk

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