Work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has introduced a new level of unfairness into this unworkable policy
The families of young people serving away from home in the armed services will be exempted from the 'bedroom tax'. But what about the families of university students also away from home for long periods? Photograph: Gary Calton
After much campaigning, foster carers and the families of young armed services personnel have been exempted from the so-called "bedroom tax" in a move that has been marked down as another coalition U-turn.
After the concession was announced in a written statement from the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, political commentators rushed to argue that this demonstrated another step down for a government in trouble; an admission of policy failure in the wake of the pasty tax, the badger cull and a string of other embarrassing about turns.
By exempting foster carers, Duncan Smith aims to show that his ministry understands that supporting the most vulnerable children in stable homes saves the public purse far more than the cost of the extra bedroom they may require to perform this task. By exempting the families of armed services personnel who still live at home he is a making a politically popular attempt to reward their efforts on behalf the country.
It's hard to argue with these decisions, but they represent a tiny fraction of the number of households that will be adversely affected by the bedroom tax when it is introduced next month. What about other vulnerable people who will face impossible choices as a result of the benefit cut?
People with disabilities for example? If Duncan Smith wishes to use the policy to use the public purse more wisely (as the foster carer exemption suggests) then why not make an additional exception for those who need the space for a carer or for equipment to manage a disability? We know that encouraging independence helps save money spent on caring for disabled people in the long run – it's among the basic tenets of the trend for "demand management" in local government, reducing pressure on public services by redesign or replacing them with self-supporting care.
As Grainia Long, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, put it:
If families of servicewomen and men will not be affected, then why should the families of offspring over 21 who are studying away from home, or children studying away for long periods of time face the cap? What about those whose young people plan to return after study to take up work in the local economy, bringing talent and earning potential back into the home neighbourhood? Are we now using a government policy to put a tax on aspiration and discourage learning?
Other people are also unfairly affected ... people who need a bigger home because of a disability should also be exempt. We know that the open market doesn't cater particularly well for these people, and they should not be penalised for living in social housing when in many cases there is nowhere else for them to go.
Meanwhile, pensioners continue to be exempted from the policy, despite the fact that this demographic alone could improve the use of public assets, because they are most likely to be under-occupying by the largest number of rooms.
National Housing Federation chief executive, David Orr, this week said:
The bedroom tax is still an unfair and perverse tax which will hit hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people living in social housing. They are being punished for a weak housing policy that for years has failed to build enough affordable homes.
I agree. Some weeks ago I wrote a controversial blogpost in which I argued that although the policy would prove a failure it wasn't in itself as grossly unfair, as, for example, the poll tax. By accepting these exemptions without considering others, Duncan Smith has introduced a grotesque unfairness that renders the policy entirely without moral value (from any political perspective) and even more likely to prompt the public outcry I dismissed as unlikely just two months ago.
Hannah Fearn
Guardian
