Courts will fill up with tenants, lawyers warn

Lawyers expect courts to be inundated with ‘thousands’ of legal cases following the introduction of the government’s ‘bedroom tax’ next month.

They predict the new regulations will prompt a rise in appeals to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, as well as an ‘inevitable’ increase in county court possession proceedings.

They spoke out in the wake of a separate legal challenge launched on 1 March against the bedroom tax regulations, with 10 judicial review claims being brought against secretary of state for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith. Five of these relate to disabled children, their siblings and parents.

The under-occupation penalty - popularly known as the ‘bedroom tax’ - comes into effect on April 1. Under the policy, social tenants of working age on housing benefit will have their payments cut if they have one or more spare bedrooms. Children under the age of 10 are expected to share a room, while those under the age of 16 are expected to share if they are the same gender.

From April, people can appeal individual cases to the relevant local authority in the first instance, so it has an opportunity to review its decision, with disputes ending up in the SSCS Tribunal. 

Anne McMurdie, a lawyer acting for three adult judicial review claimants, warns there may be ‘thousands’ of appeals over individual cases.

She said: ‘There must be a real risk that the SSCS Tribunal is inundated by appeals, and appeals that don’t have the benefit of legal advice.’

The introduction of the ‘bedroom tax’ coincides with the withdrawal of legal aid for first-tier tribunal welfare benefits cases. Lawyers claim this will lead to less effective handling of issues and a slower process, while also leaving some people unable to bring cases altogether.

Giles Peaker, a housing solicitor at Anthony Gold, said courts are ‘in for a rocky time’.

He added that for certain groups, particularly disabled children, a local authority has to assess the facts in deciding cases and this would ‘most certainly’ lead to lower tier tribunal cases.

He also expects ‘thousands of cases down the line’ in county courts as it is ‘inevitable’ there will be arrears caused by the bedroom tax and, ‘inevitably’ there will be an increase in possession cases.

According to the government’s impact assessment, 660,000 households will be affected by the ‘tax’.

A spokeswoman for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service said it would not comment on speculation. She said of its current performance that it had ‘responded strongly to support the government’s reform of welfare’ and the SSCS Tribunal had ‘grown rapidly’ since 2008/09.

The SSCS Tribunal disposed of 433,600 appeals in 2011/12, a 14 per cent increase on 380,200 in 2010/11.

In numbers

• 14 per cent the reduction in housing benefit when under-occupying by one bedroom
• 25 per cent the reduction in housing benefit when under-occupying by two or more bedrooms
• 660,000 housing benefit claimants in social sector government estimates will be affected (390,000 local authority tenants and 270,000 housing association tenants)
• 420,000 estimated number of claimants who are disabled
• 10 judicial review claims

Source

Cameron's Bullingdon Club 'burn £50 notes in front of beggars'

Bullingdon Club initiation ceremony claim: New members of David Cameron's old club 'burn £50 note in front of beggar'

 

 

A friend of one of the exclusive club’s super-wealthy members revealed the sick prank to an Oxford student newspaper

 

Ex-member: David Cameron



New members of David Cameron’s old Bullingdon Club have to burn a £50 note in front of a beggar as part of an “initiation ceremony”, it has been claimed.

A friend of one of the exclusive club’s super-wealthy members revealed the sick prank to an Oxford student newspaper.

It was immediately condemned last night by Labour MP Ian Mearns.

He said: “This kind of thing takes us back to the loads-of-money days under the last Tory government.

“Then it wasn’t just about having cash – you had to rub it in the faces of those who didn’t. It’s distasteful and disgusting.”

The Bullingdon revelations came as figures showed a rise in those sleeping rough.

One night in autumn last year councils found 2,309 out on the streets compared to 2,181 in 2011.

The boozy Bullingdon club is infamous for trashing Oxford restaurants and its other former members include Chancellor George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Earlier this month a Bullingdon member is alleged to have set off fireworks in a club.

MIRROR

Coalition's support fund won't protect disabled from bedroom tax

The £30m fund promised by David Cameron will cover just £2.71 of the £14-a-week loss in housing benefit facing disabled claimants.

By far the most troubling aspect of the "bedroom tax", which comes into effect on 1 April, is the impact it will have on the disabled. The policy, which will see housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent for those deemed to have one spare room and by 25 per cent for those with two or more, currently takes no account of those families for whom this additional space is not a luxury but a necessity. For instance, a disabled person who suffers from disrupted sleep may be unable to share a room with their partner, likewise a disabled child with their brothers and sisters. The same applies to those recovering from an illness or an operation.

While those disabled tenants who receive overnight care from a non-residential carer will not be charged for an extra room, those who live with their carer (such as a family member) will have their housing benefit reduced. Of the 660,000 social housing tenants that will be affected, the DWP estimates that 420,000 are disabled. From April, they will be forced to pay an average of £14 a week more in rent or an extra £728 a year. As a result, many face the unpalatable choice of either falling into arrears or downsizing to a property unsuitable for their needs.

When challenged to defend the decision not to exempt the disabled from the measure, David Cameron has insisted that the most vulnerable tenants will be protected by the £50m Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) fund. At last week's PMQs, he said:

This government always puts disabled people first and that is why we have protected disabled benefits. Specifically on the issue that he raises, there is the £50m fund to support people affected by the under-occupancy measure.

But new research published today by the National Housing Federation shows just how inadequate this support is. First, of the £50m referred to by Cameron, £20m comes from general DHP funding, which must cover a wide range of claimants struggling to pay their rent, not just those hit by the bedroom tax. Second, were the remaining £30m to be distributed equally among every claimant of Disability Living Allowance affected (229,803 in total), they would each receive just £2.51 per week, compared to the average weekly loss in housing benefit of £14. With the fund also intended to support foster families, whose children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes, the disabled may not even receive this paltry amount.
In a recent letter to George Osborne calling for the disabled to be exempt from the cut, the heads of seven charities, including Carers UK, Mencap and Macmillan Cancer support, cited two typical cases (see Frances Ryan's recent NS post for others).

Jean and Carl live in a two bedroom house. Carl has suffered from serious health complications for years and is now unable to work as a result of a series of operations and treatment. Jean juggles caring for her husband with a job at a local supermarket. They are unable to share a room because Carl’s condition causes very disrupted sleep and if they share Jean cannot sleep. Her shifts at work mean she frequently has to be up at 4am and she would simply be unable to do this if she could not get a good night’s sleep. They fear they will not be able to make up the shortfall in their Housing Benefit and if forced to downsize Jean is worried about her ability to do her job if she is unable to sleep properly (names changed to preserve anonymity).

Jodie has two sons Kian, aged eight and Ashton, aged seven who has Down’s Syndrome and Autism. Ashton does not sleep. He wakes through out the night and head butts the wall. Jodie has to get up and calm him several times a night. Jodie was going to be housed in a two bed house, but the social worker and the family doctor said that they needed an extra room, because of Ashton’s care needs. Ashton at times has difficult behaviour and Kian needs his own space for his health and wellbeing and for his performance at school.

It these personal stories that Labour believes could turn public opinion against the government on welfare reform. Shadow work and pensions minister Liam Byrne will launch a new party campaign against the bedroom tax in Hull today, where 4,700 tenants will be affected by the policy but where there are just 73 one and two bedroom properties available to let. Unsurprisingly, Byrne will remind voters that five days after the bedroom tax is introduced, the government will reduce the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p, benefiting 8,000 millionaires by an average of £107,500 a year (see the recently-launched "Tory Millionaire's Day" campaign).

Coalition ministers remain confident that the public will accept the logic of the policy. Private sector tenants do not receive a "spare room subsidy" (as Tory chairman Grant Shapps has dubbed it), so why should those in social housing? In addition, they will challenge Labour to say how it would raise the £1.05bn the policy will save over the next two years (although housing experts have said savings could be limited or even non-existent as families are forced into the private sector, where rents are higher, leading to a consequent rise in the housing benefit bill). Would it cut spending on schools and hospitals instead? But the politically toxic decision to reduce taxes for the highest earners has made every spending cut that much harder to justify.

New Statesman

ESA appeals nightmare confirmed

Created on Tuesday, 26 February 2013 23:45

Claimants could be left without any income replacement benefit at all when challenging a decision that they are fit for work, the government has confirmed.  Once the new system of mandatory reconsiderations before appeals is introduced, employment and support allowance (ESA)claimants will lose their right to be paid the assessment rate when they first challenge a decision.

Instead, they will have to try to sign on as available for work and claim Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or manage without either benefit until the reconsideration has been carried out.  Only once an appeal has been lodged will they be able to reclaim ESA.  The decision to refuse to pay ESA during the reconsideration period was confirmed by Lord Freud on 13 February, when he told the House of Lords:

“I turn now to ESA. At the moment, if someone appeals a refusal of ESA, it can continue to be paid pending the appeal being heard; this is not changing. What is changing is that there can be no appeal until there has been a mandatory reconsideration. So there will be a gap in payment. In that period-and I repeat that applications will be dealt with quickly so that this is kept to a minimum-the claimant could claim jobseeker’s allowance or universal credit. Alternative sources of funds are available. Of course, he or she may choose to wait for the outcome of the application and then, if necessary, appeal and be paid ESA at that point.”

However, there is no time-limit for how long the DWP can spend carrying out a mandatory reconsideration.  Given the ever increasing workload and ever decreasing staff numbers, the probability of reconsiderations being carried out in weeks rather than months does not seem high.

In addition, some people attempting to claim JSA may find Jobcentre Plus staff attempting to refuse to accept their claim on the grounds that, because of their health condition, they are not available for and actively seeking work.  This may be particularly the case as claimants are likely to be required to continue submitting sick notes in relation to their ESA claim whilst presenting themselves as fit for work in relation to their JSA claim.  Claimants may well find themselves  in the nightmare scenario of being found too fit to claim ESA but too sick to claim JSA.

Even the start date for the new mandatory reconsiderations for ESA is the subject of confusion.  DWP and ministerial statements refer to a start date in April for PIP mandatory reconsiderations and  October  for ESA.  The draft regulations, on the other hand, give a start date of 8th April for PIP and 29 April for ESA, JSA and universal credit mandatory reconsiderations.  We’ll keep you posted.

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk