Highland Council calls for bedroom tax exclusion

Highland Council is calling for remote communities with a population of 3,000 or less to be excluded from the controversial bedroom tax.

The authority is writing to Highland MPs to seek their support. Picture: Complimentary

The local authority is writing to Highland MPs to seek their support for a change to the spare room subsidy.

Councillors say small communities should be excluded from the provisions in recognition of the absence of the appropriate housing stock to accommodate tenants who wish to move to a small house.

Councillor Dave Fallows, chairman of the finance housing and resources committee, said: “There is no doubt that Welfare Reform, and in particular the spare room subsidy, is having a significant impact on our tenants and we are seeing this reflected in the number in arrears.

“The trouble in the Highlands is that we do not have sufficient capacity to accommodate those tenants who wish to downsize to avoid the penalty of losing housing benefit through living in a house with a spare room.

“I have been encouraged by the recommendations of the UK Government’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which is recommending that settlements of fewer than 3,000 people should be excluded from the under-occupancy policy.

“I will now be writing to our MPs for their support for this concession and also the Minister for Welfare Reform to urge that the Government confirms this as policy. This would be a welcome boost in rural communities, such as the Highlands.”

Since the Welfare Reform was introduced, councillors have been told that the total number of tenants in arrears in the first quarter of this financial year was 1,175, an increase of 451, and that the value of arrears has increased to £269,687, a rise of £96,196.