800 house-holders with spare room to be hit by benefit cut

3:20pm Sunday 9th September 2012 in News

MORE than 800 council house tenants in Pembrokeshire could see their housing benefit reduced as part of the UK government’s proposed welfare reforms.

The reduction in housing benefit will affect ‘overaccommodated’ tenants living in properties with surplus rooms from next April.

Tenants living in properties with one excess bedroom will see a 14% reduction in housing benefit, while those living in a property with two excess bedrooms will see a 25% reduction.

In a report before cabinet members on Monday, Pembrokeshire County Council estimates the average loss to tenants will be £11 per week, with some losing as much as £20.

The report also estimates around 20 families in Pembrokeshire will be affected by the changes to welfare benefits, which will be capped at £500 a week.

Data provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggests that families with a large number of children will be most affected.

Pembrokeshire Action To Combat Hardship (PATCH) chairman, Sarah Picton said: “We have seen a 100% increase in people coming through our doors in the last 12 months.

“All sorts of people are coming to us.”

Comments(15)

Davejavue says...
12:01am Mon 10 Sep 12

I thought that the only people living in Pembrokeshire able to claim over £500 per week in benefits were members of Pembrokeshire County Council !!!!

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Tttoommy says...
9:08am Mon 10 Sep 12

davejavue - spot on Sir - It's worth repeating - Mr Jones councils chief exec is the highest paid chief execl in wales (loads more than the PM for his "additional responsibilities" ) despite being in charge of the poorest council and the council most often "slapped down" for being cr4p by the high court or by parliament

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Tttoommy says...
9:10am Mon 10 Sep 12

PS It shows us how stupid the LGA and our councilors are when they spout the old mantra - pay the most to get the best :(((

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Tina2 says...
5:05pm Mon 10 Sep 12

That's what happens when you vote Conservative.

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conspiracy says...
7:33pm Mon 10 Sep 12

People on benefits effected by governments cuts, for having an extra bedroom, say in a £70 a week council house could move to a smaller house at twice the rent, how will this save money for the government. I think they should rethink their strategy. Attacking the poor will be the finish of this Government.

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conspiracy says...
8:02pm Mon 10 Sep 12

An aged pensioner couple that have been in a 2 bed council house all their lives, one partner dies, next week will the surviving partner receive a notice to inform them of a reduction in their housing benefit.

It Stinks..

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Tina2 says...
12:52pm Tue 11 Sep 12

And who said we would be better of under the CONservatives?

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andy62 says...
2:25pm Tue 11 Sep 12

If you are on housing benefit and you rent a property that is not fully ocupied the housing benifit should not be cut but they should be forced to move to a smaller house. after all its tax payers paying the rent not the tenant.

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Tina2 says...
3:07pm Tue 11 Sep 12

andy62 wrote:
If you are on housing benefit and you rent a property that is not fully ocupied the housing benifit should not be cut but they should be forced to move to a smaller house. after all its tax payers paying the rent not the tenant.
And what happens if a partner dies and the widow/widower finds themselves alone in a two bedroom house that they have lived in for many years? They have made it nice, the garden is lovely it seems very unfair to make them get out.

(I do not live in a council house)

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philipw says...
8:29pm Tue 11 Sep 12

Where are all these 'smaller' council houses that people could downsize to? Sold off by a certain female prime minister me thinks.....and not replaced either.

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andy62 says...
9:05pm Tue 11 Sep 12

philipw wrote:
Where are all these 'smaller' council houses that people could downsize to? Sold off by a certain female prime minister me thinks.....and not replaced either.
well said tony and gordon had plenty of time

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conspiracy says...
8:39am Wed 12 Sep 12

Its not just Council House tenants, people in the private sector on low incomes can receive housing benefit. It rightly is supposed to supplement their earnings. This is an attack on the poor while the Conservatives are turning a blind eye to Billions of Tax Evading/Avoidance of the rich.

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Tina2 says...
10:54am Wed 12 Sep 12

conspiracy wrote:
Its not just Council House tenants, people in the private sector on low incomes can receive housing benefit. It rightly is supposed to supplement their earnings. This is an attack on the poor while the Conservatives are turning a blind eye to Billions of Tax Evading/Avoidance of the rich.
As they say....... The rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer.

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malaika white says...
11:52am Thu 13 Sep 12

Oap's aren't actually going to be included in this housing benefit reform. In most situations I would agree that they shouldn't be included but there are situations where you have an elderly couple occupying properties which have 5 bedrooms. This then makes it totally unfair for those with larger families who are over occupying properties, those that are forced in to private rent or even our local homeless hostel due to the local council being unable to house them. This in turn actually costs the local councils more money. The local council needs to reform the way in which houses are allocated for a start and when tenants get to a certain age they should be asked if they want to buy their property and if they don't they should be forced to down grade to smaller properties. Lets not forget a lot of elderly residents end up qualifying for help from the local council to clean their homes this also costs the council a vast amount of money every year. the reason i feel strongly about this due to personal experience with pembrokeshire county council. Due to poor housing stock management we have these problems, if the roots of the problems were fixed we wouldn't be now forcing more people in to poverty. this is our community (2 words common unity) if we don't start protesting and showing common unity this will just be the beginning.

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conspiracy says...
3:01pm Thu 13 Sep 12

We need to build a lot more decent affordable, social rental housing stock, this will create 100's of local jobs and force down the high private sector rentals.

Moving or surcharging people on benefits is not the answer.

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