Underoccupancy Charge: Carers Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Baroness Greengross
Main Page: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Greengross's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
Underoccupancy Charge: Carers
Baroness Greengross Excerpts(9 years, 6 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Freud
About 40,000 couples in which one is looking after the other were covered by the spare room policy when it was introduced. That is about 6% of the total. The discretionary housing payment system was set up precisely to look at circumstances in which the couple could not share a room—because, of course, many of them could, even though there was a disability.
Baroness Greengross (CB)
My Lords, a lot of people are looking after severely disabled children, or older adults with long-term conditions—particularly dementia. In order to get some sleep, they have to chop and change, and need additional carers such as other members of the family coming in. They desperately need the extra room. Can those sort of carers usually get an exception to the rule and be allowed to have an additional bedroom?
Lord Freud
This is precisely the kind of circumstance for which the discretionary housing payment is designed. It has not been found possible to have a general rule, and that is why this system, which has gone through the courts in quite some detail, has been found to supply support where necessary.