Vocal Voices

I have been informed by the council/DWP that I am to lose £10.43 per week.

Why? Because I have a spare bedroom that used to be used when my children visited after my divorce. I took my home nearly nine years ago, during my divorce, and I paid for it out of my own money when I was working. Then I got ill.

I have been a member of Leeds Homes for about three years now trying to get a one bedroom flat, but there are none available, so I get penalised.

I used to vote Conservative: never again.

This always happens after Labour break the country. The Tories have to come in and take money away from people. They usually go for those who probably won't vote for them anyway. Occasionally they get some who would/might/will.

This isn't over by a long way. Everyone wants a healthy economy. Everyone wants an end to the debt problem. Nobody wants to PAY for it.

Ergo this mess.

Plus ca Change.

It's a shame no one bedroomed places are available, and I guess once this bedroom tax kicks in, there'll be even fewer. Would it be realistic for you to take in a lodger (preferably one who only needs a room during the working week?).

Frank it's outrageous - and I'm truly sorry that this is affecting you

It is the total unfairness of the new legislation that is upsetting and angering me, some of the stories that are emerging are truly very upsetting - disabled people losing the rooms for their equipment, partners of disabled people who use the 'spare' room to sleep in sometimes, single parents who have a 'spare' room so they can have their children to stay. Then as you say even those who are willing and able to move to smaller housing can't because it isn't available - yet still they are penalised. Truly heartbreaking.

Yesterday was a sad sad day for this country S*d the disabled, the ill and the vulnerable, they can all go to the wall I honestly never thought I would see the day......

I voted Liberal - never again. Nick Clegg if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas........

I understand that my granddaughter, aged 23, is now going to have to make a payment to, in a sense, rent her own bedroom!

I think it's shocking the high handed way they announce that married couples will only be allowed one bedroom. This might be OK for most married couples, but if there is severe illness or something like that it is outrageous to insist on this. We are in the fortunate position of having our own house, but I suffer from severe insomnia and we have separate rooms for this reason. I dread to think how it would be if we were in local authority housing.

I was so sorry to read about your problem WM. There must be many divorced people who keep a bedroom for their children to come and stay who are going to be unfairly penalised in this way. It is outrageous. It makes you boil inside at the unfairness and the high-handedness of it all.

Whilst in principle I agree with the Government in their efforts to reduce the burden of the welfare state, I think the bedroom tax is somewhat of an own goal. There must be many different groups of people disadvantaged by this new ruling.

In particular, many fathers who are separated have to find themselves a home with an extra bedroom for when their children come to stay. Some dads have a shared residence which surely necessites them having a separate room for their children. These dads get no state help whatsoever, unlike the parent with care. Once CSA is paid these dads could be left with very little income, especially the low paid. If they have to downsize to a one bedroomed flat and are unable to offer their children accommodation overnight, then they have to increase their CSA payments.

They seem to be in a lose/lose situation.

They just seem to target the vulnerable at every turn - it's cruel

Terrible situation for such a huge majority.. primarily thought up by Labour who are along with the majority of MP's wallowing in money with their off shore bank accounts..I see Miliband has resigned from his Lucrative position in a football club. "These b'ards do not know the meaning of hardship, working for a living,
best of everything, furnishing allowances (John Lewis) payment for more often than not bogus properties in London.£1,000 a year it costs us for bottled water in the Commons, tap water not good enough for their palet. Unbelievable expense accounts, subsidised drinks and the best of foods in the Commons bars and restaurants. driven cars for the elite when they have had one over the eight in the bars, or when they need them.. Nearly all of them have properties beyond the reach of the average...Overseas properties where they can "Escape"... They get jobs for their mates, lobby for extra cash, have a life of O'Reilly and work!!! ha ha if I am correct around three months a year

WM, I'm sorry to read how this is affecting you - and plenty more like you, I'm sure.

I was quite taken aback when I read about the rules of the bedroom tax. This shouldn't be happening to folk who are being penalised through no fault of their own and have no viable housing mobility - what's the solution, make like Mick Phillpott?

I guess the old adage, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer was never so true as today.

I sincerely hope you'll stick to your guns and not vote Tory again. It's the only way to get the message across.

It is typical of government mindset, all governments of whatever colour, one size fits all. Duncan Smith's department doesn't give free money away, no questions asked. It has data on every single claimant and recipient.

It would be cheaper and more efficient in the long run to treat everyone as individuals, but no, lump them all together, that's what we have always done, that's what we will continue to do.

The Tories will hopefully lose a lot of votes because of this move. It is not only hitting Labour voters, which in itself would be wrong, it is kicking everyone in the balls.