Bedroom tax nightmare ‘was buried’

OLDHAM West and Royton MP Michael Meacher has accused the Government of trying to bury bad news about the suffering of families forced to cut back on food to pay the bedroom tax on the same day David Cameron reshuffled his Cabinet.

The veteran Labour MP said the news was full of pictures of women promoted in the pre-election reshuffle, while an internal report by the Department of Work and Pensions about the spare room subsidy “was buried.”

Mr Meacher said: “The Government’s stated objective for the bedroom tax was to ease overcrowding, but the DWP’s own analysis of its operation from April 1 to September 30, 2013 reveals it has had the opposite effect.”

Research showed that out of 523,000 tenants targeted by the bedroom tax, 319,000 were unable to meet the housing benefit cutbacks of either £14 or £22 a week.

It also showed that 40,000 said they had been forced to cut back on food and energy, or had to run up debts with friends or pay-day lenders in order to meet rent payments.

Downsizing was not an option, given the shortage of smaller properties and only 4.5 per cent of tenants were able to move to a smaller home.
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