Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party chairman, has defended the Government’s decision to withdraw housing benefit for spare rooms by saying that his children are forced to share a bedroom.
Grant Shapps, the housing minister, has
dominated the political agenda this month. He plans to overhaul the
rental market and backs the selling off of council homes Photo: HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY
11:07AM BST 31 Mar 2013
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A host of changes to the benefits system will come into force this week,
including controversial measures to cut housing benefit if people are deemed
to have spare bedrooms.
Ministers say the under occupancy penalty – dubbed the “bedroom tax” by
critics - is intended to ensure that the best use is made of social housing
and reduce the housing benefit bill, currently more than £20 billion a year.
The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that the change will save
taxpayers £480 million a year and affect around 600,000 people. The average
loss for a single empty bedroom will be £14 per week.
It is also intended to encourage people to move into smaller properties in
order to free up accommodation for families.
Under the reforms, children are expected to share a room if they are of the
same sex under the age of 16 or of either sex under 10.
