Oral Answers to Questions

Karen Buck Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

Absolutely. As of April this year, with a new state pension and the triple lock, people will be £1,000 better off than they would have been under the old system whereby pensions were uprated. The triple lock will benefit people by £1,000 by April this year.

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

6. What evaluation his Department has made of the effect of the under-occupancy penalty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People (Justin Tomlinson)]

The number of people subject to a reduction owing to under occupancy has been reduced by 18% since the introduction of this policy, and has already saved the taxpayer £1 billion. We will therefore be maintaining this policy, and will continue to protect vulnerable claimants who require additional support through discretionary housing payments.

[Ms Buck]

London is by no means the region worst affected by the bedroom tax, but even so, just one in four people affected in my constituency have been able to downsize in the three years since the policy came in. The Government’s own research indicates that three-quarters of those hit by the bedroom tax have had to cut back on food, and 46% have had to cut back on heating. What steps will the Minister take to ensure that those who are unable to downsize their homes are not left cold and hungry?

[Justin Tomlinson]

First of all, the £870 million discretionary housing payments fund has been set aside for this Parliament. The one in four looking to downsize will be welcome news to the 241,000 families in overcrowded accommodation and the 1.7 million on the housing waiting list.