Bedroom Tax

Jeane Freeman Almost £58 million will be spent mitigating the impact of the UK government’s welfare reform on households across Scotland, it has been announced, as Westminster vows to press on with plans for further cuts to housing benefit.

Scottish ministers have yet to reach an agreement with the UK government over a potential reduction in the benefits of claimants in Scotland when the Scottish Government abolishes the ‘bedroom tax’. As part of new social security powers being transferred to Holyrood, the Scottish Government plan

Scottish ministers are to seek assurances from the UK government that it will not reduce the benefits of claimants in Scotland when the Scottish Government abolishes the ‘bedroom tax’. Communities, social security and equalities secretary, Angela Constance, made the call for clarity ahead of a m

In a guest blog for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Shelter Scotland’s Aoife Deery says there are big questions regarding the future affordability of social housing. Four years ago, when the first wave of welfare cuts was breaking, Shelter Scotland ran a high profile campa

Social housing sector tenants who challenged the so called ‘bedroom tax’ have received a mixed outcome at the Supreme Court. Two families who claimed that the removal of the spare room subsidy was unfair won their appeals against the UK government but five other claimants had their challenges di

After First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government to MSPs at Holyrood yesterday, Scottish Housing News highlights the details of interest to housing associations and the wider sector. House building

Alan Ferguson The Scottish Government’s priority for warm homes has “lit up” the Programme for Government and been welcomed across the sector.

Research by a group of London housing association’s has found that the ‘bedroom tax’ has failed in its objective to free up larger social homes in the city. Introduced in 2013, the UK government’s Social Rented Sector Size Criteria (SRSSC), more commonly known as the bedroom tax, saw househo

The Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWR) has written to political candidates across Scotland to ask them to commit to using new powers to create a fairer social security system. Set up in 2006 to highlight the concerns of a diverse coalition of organisations in Scotland about the UK governmen

Alex Neil A new delivery agency will be set up to administer social security payments worth £2.7 billion when they are devolved to Scotland, social justice secretary Alex Neil announced today.

Lawyers representing people with disabilities and adult carers will go to the Supreme Court today for a 3-day hearing to argue that the ‘bedroom tax’ unjustifiably discriminates against disabled people. In two sets of cases travelling through the court system, the High Court accepted that the re

John Swinney Scottish local authorities will receive a total funding package of £10.3 billion in 2016-17 as council tax will be frozen for the ninth consecutive year, deputy first minister John Swinney confirmed yesterday.

Local authorities in Scotland have spent or committed 97 per cent of the total estimated funding for Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) awards during 2015/16. New statistics into the DHP scheme, which provides financial assistance towards housing costs for those claiming housing benefit, revealed t

Judges in the Court of Appeal have declared the so-called bedroom tax discriminatory following legal challenges made by the family of a seriously disabled teenager and by a domestic violence victim. One case was brought by “A”, a single mother whose three-bedroom council house had a panic room t

More than £2 million could be available to tenants in Dundee in the next financial year to offset reductions in their housing benefit caused by the ‘bedroom tax’. A Dundee City Council contribution of £150,000 and an updated policy on Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) will be discussed by