A judge in England makes landmark bedroom tax ruling saying it has been wrongly charged
Another nail in the coffin of the controversial bedroom tax has been delivered after a tribunal in England decreed separated parents are being wrongly charged.
A child of parents living apart is entitled to a bedroom in each of their homes for visits, the Middlesburgh appeals tribunal ruled.
The decision was made in the case of a father who had 14% docked from his housing benefit.
The local authority decided the single man was under-occupying his two-bed semi. But he argued the extra room was used by his son under a deal by which the boy stays up to three nights a week with him.
The ruling is set to open the floodgates to claims by potentially thousands of claimants who have been wrongly charged and signals another blow to the Conservative government’s attempts to keep the bedroom tax afloat.
This shows the bedroom tax is cruel and unfair - Rachel Reeves
The hated tax is mitigated in Scotland via discretionary housing payments which offset any cost to claimants.
However, benefit claimants in England have been hit badly by the charge in a housing market that is already in crisis.
It means few homes are available for those forced to downsize because of the tax, pushing many unemployed and disabled claimants further into poverty.
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith will appeal the ruling.
Bedroom tax campaigner Joe Halewood said: “This case opens the door for all separated parents with shared care arrangements whose children have two homes.”
And shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves added: “This shows the bedroom tax is cruel and unfair. Ministers should scrap it.”
