Welfare Reform

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

A friend of mine is a foster carer and is currently in a privately rented house and looking to move. She was told by the housing association that if she signed on their books her foster child wouldn't count in the bedroom allowance. This is appalling. We are desperately short of good foster parents in our area, the local council pay really low money to foster carers and now they are going to have to pay extra towards the bedroom tax. I can't understand how the government have allowed this to happen. It is so shortsighted.

That's exactly the situation that daughter's friend's mum is in. There is the mum and my daughter's friend who is an adult living in a 3 bedroomed house. Mum assumed she would be fine as she always has one foster child and sometimes two, she is a short term crisis carer and takes some very tragic cases. No, the foster children cannot be included in the residents so the bedroom tax is payable.

Daughter has just told me about another one. A couple with one child. The father has a serious illness and cannot share his wife's bed, due to medical equipment he sleeps in a separate bedroom. Guess what .... yes you got it, he is not entitled to his own room.

Where do these stupid rules come from? :mad:

Time_to_face_the_music

Growurown wrote: »

Is your daughter living in privately rented housing or in social housing, ie a housing association aka a registered social landlord?

Housing association and they are a disgrace. When my daughter moved in, the house was not safe, the stair hand rail was hanging off the wall and there was blood splattered up the stairs and hall. Her dad fixed the hand rail and we all cleaned and repainted the walls but she is still waiting for someone to come and assess the damp issue.

Depth_Charge

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Excellent post Depth Charge :T

NED CAB are doing some fantastic work, I am already appreciative of their support with self managed DMPs and I am sure the welfare information on their site will be of value to many.

My great fear with the bedroom tax is that many people still do not fully understand how it will affect them. That the rules are so strict. That people think they are safe from it and they are not. I discussed this earlier in the week with my daughter who is affected and is currently arguing the case with her landlord.

She and my granddaughter live in a 3 bedroomed house and has been told she is affected by the bedroom tax. However the third bedroom is too small to take a bed and is also damp to the extent that the wall paper is mouldy and hanging off the walls, and that the smell of the damp pervades the whole of the upper floor of her house. Does this bedroom tax still apply when the room cannot be used as a bedroom and/or is uninhabitable?

My daughter's friend thinks she is not affected as she lives in the 3 bedroomed house and has 2 large teenagers, age 13 and 14. Sorry she is wrong, the teenagers must share a bedroom and the bedroom tax still applies.

Friend 2 has twins age 9, a boy and a girl. Again it applies as they must now share a bedroom.

Friend's mum is a foster carer, foster children don't count towards the bedroom allocation. What?!

Another friend has shared custody of children, sorry only the full time carer has the bedroom rights. Yeah that really makes sense.

How many people know the full facts?

This is a disgrace but what else do we expect from a government who has no connection whatsoever with how the majority of their little people live :mad:

Hi

Excellent post, highlighting the issues that will almost definitely become talking points and matters of potential dispute.

I also think you are right on how many people may not know the full facts and how quickly this will all arrive on the doorsteps so to speak.

The bedroom tax and changes in council tax alone could hit peoples pockets hard, maybe in the region of £60 to £100 per month.

These are serious amounts of money to find extra every month espcially if budgeting is already tight and for those in debt management arrangements and IVAs perhaps.

Thanks to all the other posters that have commented so far all views have to be welcome either positive or negative as thats the name of the game in my book.

Whatever your opinion these challenges have to be faced as it will help nobody in the long run if people get behind with their priority rent & council tax. All we will see is more liability orders, bailiffs, possession hearings and all the fees, charges, costs that go with them, not to mention the potential misery this could all bring for families etc.

The advice agencies are already feeling the effects of whats going on and thats before this new raft of changes hit the road.

It has to be a certainty that these issues will become talking points and subjects of debate on truly open forums such as this one and subsequently the support that can and I know will be given being priceless in my opinion.

My take again:)

DC

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Housing association and they are a disgrace. When my daughter moved in, the house was not safe, the stair hand rail was hanging off the wall and there was blood splattered up the stairs and hall. Her dad fixed the hand rail and we all cleaned and repainted the walls but she is still waiting for someone to come and assess the damp issue.

That's terrible TTFTM. It's shocking that people are having to live in such conditions. It's like something out of a Dickens novel. I hope your daughter has put in an official complaint.

Depth_Charge

Hi

This is what Gillian Guy of Citizens Advice had to say on issues

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_office-20130213.htm

She's right

Growurown

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi

This is what Gillian Guy of Citizens Advice had to say on issues

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_office-20130213.htm

She's right

Yes I agree. People turn to pay day loans to get the money they need to see them over a crisis with every intention of paying it back asap but the next month arrives and they don't have the money and so on it goes.

In my job I see every day people living in abject poverty, having to make the choice between buying food or heating their homes. I do see people who don't want to work and have no intention of working, but I also see lots of people desperate to work and get off benefits. It is a fine line between giving people enough to live on but not making it so comfortable that people have no motivation to seek employment. These welfare changes will hit hard, and hit people who are already struggling.

fairyclicks

For anyone facing the bedroom tax i was told there would be a discretionary payment that could be applied for which would top up the rent allowance for 6months and then a further 3 months which is to allow for time to find another place - not sure if there is any info about this anywhere?

Depth_Charge

Hi

The changes to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) was the talk of the bbc news today on the welfare reform front

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21466844

Just coming from the reduction in incomes angle these changes in DLA becoming PIP etc and loss of may result in a sharp drop in income for some either temporary or long term (below was a quote from another earlier article)

About 3.2 million people receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a payment of between £20.55 and £131.50 a week to assist them in leading independent lives.

The above does not tell the whole story either as anybody that knows a bit about benefits will tell you that DLA can bring in other premiums and benefits such as council tax benefit, housing benefit, income support and then there are the Carers (Carers Allowance).

Like I say Im just coming from the potential reduction in income angle as the DLA one could hit particulary hard.

Budgeting along with some people in Debt Management Plans, IVAs too will be affected, its a stone wall fact and again the possible spectre of people being introduced (if that is the right word) to priority debts such as mortgage, rent and council tax and for the first time perhaps.

Best prepare

My take

Willing2Learn

Regarding PIP (Personal Independence Payments), which will be replacing DLA and is being phased in over the next two years from April 2013. I posted the following in the benefits forum, but is probably also relevant here, so I've cut and pasted across:

Willing2Learn wrote: »

PIP - DWP Assessment Guide (for providers carrying out assessments)

Note – The document linked below will continue to be refined in the run-up to the implementation of PIP:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pip-assessment-guide.pdf

For general guidance on entitlement, activity tests and other general criteria, please see the:
Disability Rights UK Factsheet - Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

GibbsRule_No3

Tad OT maybe: But I have just been sent my new housing partnership rent from April and it has gone up £25.00 a month anyway. So the people affected by the new bedroom tax would probably be facing higher rent besides the tax, pushing it even harder.