pensioners and bedroom tax

It actually makes me feel quite sad - one of those things NOT on my wish list for Britain. Surely one spare bedroom could be acceptable?

Living in a one-bedroomed property would severely restrict family contact for many pensioners.
I wonder how a Human Rights challenge based on the right to family life and respect of one's home would fare!

It all sounds a bit like the 16thC 'window' tax....whats going to happen will folks have to brick up spare rooms?

Also there aren't enough one bedroom properties available. Milliband pointed out in the House that there are 4000 claimants affected in Hull and only 79 suitable properties.

There are a range of issues re the bedroom tax but one I haven't seen brought up in the media is that if you move from social housing because you can no longer afford it because of the bedroom tax, you might have to move into private sector housing and almost certainly then have a much inferior tenure.

This bedroom tax is just another ploy to pit the nation against each other because we are so easily divided.

The Tories say its to save tax payers money. Yet ive read that the implimentation of this policy is going to cost tax payers more money, just as the means test Pensions Credit costs more money than an up rate in the State pension.

This does appear to be personal state interference on a grand scale!

For some reason, most people seem to imagine that pensioners are all rattling around in huge houses with loads of bedrooms, but in reality, lots of pensioners are already in 2 bedroomed properties. Unless they downsize, they will still have their benefit cut by 14% if they fall into the catagory I mentioned in my first post.

If they have to move into a one-bedroomed property, it's goodbye to having the grandchildren to stay, and no more sleeping in another room when one is snoring too loudly, or is ill. No more weekend visits from family who live a long way away.
What's more, if you read the statistics, it seems that the proposed measures will not save money, but will actually increase spending!

It does seem very unfair on the surface that a couple who have lived in a house for many years will be faced with moving because of the "bedroom tax". However, there are many families on the housing list waiting for a family home to become available and if a couple are living in a 3 or 4 bedroom house it does make sense for them to move to a smaller property to enable a family to move in.

However, having said that, I can appreciate that some couples have lived in their homes for many years and the disruption of having to move could be detrimental to their health. I would hope that rather than just ticking boxes those making the decisions about whether a couple should move or not would take everything into consideration.

I think if a couple are prepared to move to a smaller property they should be allowed to choose a 2 bedroomed place in order that family can visit without having to pay the so called "bedroom tax".

Are pensioners really going to be taxed on the number of bedrooms?