Stockport’s Labour councillors are asking fellow councillors in the town to join their calls for the Bedroom Tax to be scrapped. The Labour Group has submitted a motion about the Bedroom Tax for consideration at the Council Meeting on Thursday 27th June at Stockport Town Hall.
Approximately 2,900 people in Stockport have been affected by the Bedroom Tax since it was brought in by the Lib Dem and Tory Government on 1st April 2013. The Bedroom Tax penalises tenants who are said to be ‘under-occupying’ their homes with the average weekly loss in social security payments for Stockport residents being £13.42 per week.
The majority of the people affected by the Bedroom Tax will be unable to move to smaller accommodation due to a severe lack of suitable housing in Stockport. Two thirds of the households affected by the Bedroom Tax are home to someone with a disability.
Labour councillor Paul Moss (Reddish North ward) will move the motion at the Council Meeting.
Cllr Paul Moss said: “The Bedroom Tax is wrong; it’s as simple as that. The majority of the people losing vital social security payments are in work and trying to get by. Losing £13 a week might not sound like a lot to some people, but for the residents that I’ve been dealing with who have been affected by the Bedroom Tax, £13 a week can be the difference between keeping their heads above the water and falling into debt.
“The residents coming to me are distraught because most of them have nowhere to move to. There aren’t enough smaller homes in Stockport for people to move to and that’s one of the most unfair parts of the Bedroom Tax, it is hitting people who can’t do anything about it.
“I hope that councillors in other parties will do the right thing and join our calls for the Bedroom Tax to be repealed now.”
Latest figures from Stockport Homes revealed that 1,341 of their tenants have been affected by the Bedroom Tax and that since its introduction, 192 rent accounts have fallen into arrears. The increase in rent arrears due to the Bedroom Tax has been costed at £45,339 in the first two months alone since it was introduced.