Shropshire Council pays out £120,000 because of bedroom tax
Around £120,000 was paid out by Shropshire Council last year to hundreds of people struggling to pay their rent following the introduction of the so-called bedroom tax.
Figures obtained by the Shropshire Star under a Freedom of Information request revealed that 568 people were awarded discretionary housing payments specifically for the effects of bedroom tax from April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014.
The total cost of these payments was £119,974.95.
The figures relate to Shropshire Council. Telford & Wrekin Council was unable to provide figures.
A spokeswoman for Shropshire Council said: "These are people who have a shortfall between their rent and their housing benefit payments. There are many reasons why a household may be unable to move, such as a specific area wanted, rent arrears, a specific property type required and support needs."
The change to housing benefit was introduced in April 2013 as part of the government's Welfare Reform Act.
Under the bedroom tax - officially called a spare room subsidy - social tenants deemed to have a spare room see their rent eligible for housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent, rising to 25 per cent if they have two or more extra bedrooms.
Bryan Powell, chief executive of Shropshire Rural Housing Association Ltd, said that of its 272 homes across the county, 21 had been found to be under-occupied at the introduction of the bedroom tax.
"Since then, four households have moved to smaller homes by mutual consent and a further two are waiting for a swap to become available due to under occupation," Mr Powell said.
"No households have been moved into smaller homes without consent."
Last month a Government review revealed that almost 60 per cent of households affected by the bedroom tax changes were in arrears as a result of the cut to their housing benefit.
The National Housing Federation said the number of claimants for discretionary housing payments was not a surprise.
Chief executive David Orr said: "People stung by the bedroom tax are being forced to make difficult choices on which bills to pay and which essentials to go without. They are living in fear that they will lose their homes and have resorted to borrowing from friends and family to try and get by.
"Housing associations have spent millions of pounds working more closely with their tenants, introducing projects to tackle fuel poverty and working with food banks to help alleviate food poverty. But these services have costs, which leaves less money for building new homes.
"As we feared and warned, the bedroom tax is having a disastrous impact. The only solution is to abolish this policy which fails on every level."
A DWP spokesman said: "The removal of the spare room subsidy is a necessary reform to restore fairness to the system and make better use of our social housing stock.
"We have made almost £345m available to support vulnerable people since reforms were introduced last year, and of the money allocated to Shropshire Council over £60,000 was unspent.
"Tenants are taking action in a number of ways, and we have seen over 25,000 people across Great Britain successfully downsizing their home or finding jobs and increasing their earnings."