Hello its me popping up again lol
I had to go on a training course on the bedroom tax and universal benefit in February and its dreadful some of the stories we are hearing about it! One man who is a carer for his Mum is being hammered with the tax as the council cannot see they need two bedrooms as they are mother and son, because they have the same surname the computer sees them as a married couple
My friend has terminal cancer, her daughter has Downs shes 34 and has always lived with her Mum but because of my friend being ill shes had to get her into supported living 5 days a week and coming home on a weekend, shes done the transition as slowly as possible but not my friend has been hit with the tax and told to pay up or move, she cant afford to pay so will have to move into a one bedroomed flat in a very unsavoury estate in her fragile state of ill health and meanwhile her daughter wont have a bedroom for the weekend when she comes home and will have to sleep on the floor or with her terminally ill Mum
The Universal benefit in October will be an absolute shambles, instead of rent now going to landlords and housing ass direct it will go the the claiment so they hit the benefit caps, they then have to pay their own rent from it, the estate behind me has druggies and drunks on and they will get that cash in their hands and immediatly think whoppie doo we have loadsa cash and they will spend it with no thought of the rent, so they will get behind with rent, the councils and housing ass wont have money for repairs for the decent tennanats and then it will cost the councils thousands to take the tenants to court and evict them, they will then move into private rented where rents are higher and be claiming more housing benefit!