Housing Benefit (Under-occupancy Penalty)

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Wednesday 27th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Dr Whiteford]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point on the differential impact between rural and urban areas. I hope I will be able to address that later.

Perhaps it should not surprise us that sick and disabled people are over-represented among those who rely on housing benefit, given that many of them will have been assessed as unfit for work, while others who are in work are more likely to be working part-time or in low-paid and insecure jobs. The numbers are a damning indictment on the Government’s attempts to balance the books on the back of disadvantaged people. In Scotland the picture is even more stark—79% of disadvantaged people in Scotland affected by the bedroom tax are either disabled or living in a house with someone who is disabled.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Is the hon. Lady aware of Govan Law Centre’s petition to the Scottish Government to amend section 16 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to ensure that people subjected to the bedroom tax will not be evicted due to those arrears?

[Dr Whiteford]

I am aware of it and I intend to turn later to the specifics of the situation for social landlords and for Scotland.