The DWP has issued an urgent bulletin – HB U6/2013 – announcing its intention to appeal two recent First-tier Tribunal cases held in Fife
These decisions were decided in the claimant’s favour because tribunals attempted to apply their own size definitions. For more on this see http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2013/september/bedroom-tax-rulings-concern-dwpHB U6/2013 says:
“It has recently been reported that two First-tier Tribunal cases resulted in findings that rooms designated by the landlord as bedrooms were not capable of being such for the purposes of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) regulations. This is because the judge determined that the rooms did not satisfy the “space standard” as set out in section 326 of the Housing Act 1985 and section 137 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 which is used to assess statutory overcrowding.
The Department for Work and Pensions will seek permission to appeal against the decisions given in these particular cases as space standards do not relate to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, nor should a dining or living room be classified as a bedroom notwithstanding that the relevant Housing Act provisions would class them as such (see paragraph 3 below).”You can view the Fife rulings on the Inside Housing website.
