New data collected by the Scottish Government and COSLA shows that UK government changes to housing benefit, particularly the so called bedroom tax which means social tenants with a room they don’t need have to pay for it, have added significant financial pressures on Scottish councils.
The research showed that all, but one, of Scotland’s local authorities with housing stock, had seen an increase in rent arrears. Three quarters of councils said that the bedroom tax is directly responsible for the increase in arrears.
Of that rent now due to be collected from tenants affected, 60% of councils reported receiving 40% or less and 80% of councils reported receiving 50% or less.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that it was ‘absolutely imperative’ that the Department of Work and Pensions review and evaluate the impact of their welfare reforms as a matter of urgency.
Last month, research showed that local authorities had received 22,000 requests for emergency discretionary housing payments by the end of May. Nineteen local authorities saw a 400% rise compared to the same period last year. And by the end of May, 22% of the £10 million funds made available in Scotland for DHPs by the Department for Work and Pensions had been allocated.
‘This new data shows a drastic increase in the number of people applying for emergency funding to help them deal with the impact of the UK disastrous welfare reform programme,’ said Sturgeon.
‘Local authorities across Scotland are having to deal with the appalling aftermath of the bedroom tax, which is hitting our most vulnerable citizens, including a high proportion of disabled people, extremely hard in these challenging economic times,’ she added.
Scotland plans to scrap the bedroom tax if the independence vote is in favour of a separate Scottish government financially and politically independent from the UK.
‘This will be done within a year of independence and we will have the practical arrangements in place to ensure that this happens,’ said Sturgeon.
She said that currently the Scottish government has provided £40 million to protect households from the 10% cut in successor arrangements to Council Tax Benefit. ‘We have also allocated funding to support people affected by the bedroom tax with an additional £7.9 million for advice and support services, of which £2.5 million is ring fenced for social landlords,’ Sturgeon pointed out.
‘We cannot mitigate the full impacts of the UK government’s cuts to the welfare system without full powers over welfare or access to all our resources but we will continue to oppose the bedroom tax. It is unfair and divisive policy that hit some of our most vulnerable groups hardest, and it undermines and jeopardises the work this government is taking forward to create a fairer, more successful, and prosperous Scotland,’ she added.
