Wirral protest against 'bedroom tax' welfare reform

Around 40 people came together outside Wallasey Town Hall to make their views heard on welfare reform which they claim will unafirly penalise benefit claimants living in council or social housing.

The changes, which come into force from Monday, mean those living in a house deemed too big for their needs will have a proportion of their benefit cut.

The shake-up means tenants in council houses and social housing could face paying £728 extra a year.

Meanwhile, those with more than one spare bedroom face a 25% cut in housing benefit.

Ministers say the “under occupancy penalty” will reduce the housing benefit bill, currently more than £20 billion a year.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimates the change will save taxpayers £480m a year and affect around 600,000 people. The average loss for a single empty bedroom will be £14 per week, it adds.

Residents affected by the changes fear community links will be severed as families are forced to move into smaller properties in a different area.

Dawn and John Grant from Wallasey have lived in their three-bedroom home for 20 years and have raised their children there.

But now that their two sons, aged 23 and 19, have moved out, they have been told they will have to find an extra £26 per week if they want to stay in their family home.

Volunteer counsellor Dawn, 40, said that finding the extra money each week would not be possible for her and John, who claims disability benefits.

She said: “It is our family home where we’ve brought up our kids and lived for 20 years and we love living there. It is not a case of not wanting to pay the extra money, it’s the fact that we literally cannot afford it.

“The only option is to go into a one-bedroom flat, which are few and far between anyway, and we have four pets which makes it harder to find somewhere that would allow that.

“We don’t want to move away from neighbours who we have known for years and built close friendships with.

"The whole thing hasn’t been thought through at all because if we were to go into private accommodation, which is usually more expensive, I need to think about whether we could afford that rent once I find a job.”

Also protesting was Pat Cross, from Upton, who says she or her husband would be forced to sleep on the couch if they lived in a one bedroom home.

Pat, 53, said: “My husband and I have to sleep in separate bedrooms for medical needs so if we had to downsize then it would mean one of us sleeping on the sofa which is ridiculous.

“There is an awful misconception that all benefit claimants are scroungers but that is the minority.

"In order to meet the shortfall of rent, we will simply have to decide what we can forfeit – we don’t smoke or drink and we don’t have Sky television so that means food will have to be cut down. It’s disgraceful.”

Robert Wilkinson, who became unemployed last November, is worried the changes could affect his relationship with his children with whom he shares custody with his ex-partner.

The 37-year-old former refuse collector from Bromborough said: “At the moment I’m staying with my parents but I have been told that I can only get a one-bedroom flat because of my circumstances.

“I have my five children to stay every other weekend but that’s not going to be possible when I get my own place – we can’t all share a bedroom so it will mean they just can’t stay.”

The National Housing Federation argues the changes will do little to solve overcrowding.

In a report out today, the federation said bedroom tax could in fact raise the benefit bill as tenants are forced into more expensive, privately-rented homes and therefore increase housing benefit bills.

It also stated that if disabled people in adapted properties moved into smaller accommodation, this could also cost millions in costly home adaptations.

David Orr, National Housing Federation chief executive, said: “The bedroom tax is an ill-conceived policy which will hurt the most vulnerable people in our society.

"It will cause financial hardship for hundreds of thousands of families and cause huge upheaval around the country.

"It takes no account of the fact that there are not enough smaller homes in the social sector available for people who are under-occupying to move into.

"For them, the only options will be to take the financial hit or to move into a smaller home in the private sector, which could lead to higher housing benefit claims.

"The real solution to the housing crisis is to build more homes and bring down the cost of housing to reduce the benefits bill.

“The Government must repeal this ill-conceived policy, but at the very least right now it must exempt disabled and other vulnerable people from these cuts.”