IDS’s latest bedroom tax strategy is all men are rapists!! – SPeye Joe
This is a classic example of cracked Conservative thinking, exposed by SPeye Joe on his blog for all to see:
All men are capable of rape therefore all men are rapists was one of the strident assertions of the New York feminist movement in the early 1970’s.
Contrast that with what Iain Duncan Smith says about the bedroom tax and I quote directly from a DWP argument put into the Upper Tribunal which says:
a. the Government intended that all rooms that are capable of being used as a bedroom should be classified as such (see for instance DWP circular U6/2013);
The absolute perversity of such a statement is lost on the DWP legal department. It is legally, economically. practically and politically perverse to say a room capable of being a bedroom is a bedroom.
- I can fit a mattress on my bath therefore its a bedroom.
- I can fit a single bed in my bathroom therefore it is a bedroom.
- I can fit a bed into my kitchen therefore it is a bedroom
- I can fit a bed in my living room therefore it is a bedroom
All of the above are true and therefore according to Iain Duncan Smith I have 3 bedrooms more than anyone thinks. So will 4 million or so social tenants across the country.
Do you think that’s crazy? It gets worse. Visit the SPeye Joe blog and see how bad it gets.
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He is one sad B*****D, not long before it’s gone.
Silly question,my neighbours son lived with her(21) worked P/T and she was charged or deducted £15.83 pw extra on HB,it fluctuates,as she works various hours each Month,he has moved out and she is classed as having an extra Bedroom. I am single on JSA and sofa surfing,the Council suggested she take in a lodger (ME) the housing association which took control of the Councils housing stock says she cannot sublet,the Council says they will not pay me HB for a small room,if she was to “Rent” out the room who would get the rent? Nobody seems to have an answer,any advice?
It seems to me that they’re all trying to screw you over.
Can anybody help with this?
Fubar/Mike, this is very much how the rules stand. Many of us on very low incomes are finding ourselves in a similar position and have had to resort to us parents (usually single) and the adult kids moving to private rented single rooms in shared accommodation or face losing what little money is available to us, which we then lose, albeit to a slightly lesser degree, in having to pay the top-up on the rent that our capped Housing Benefit doesn’t cover.
One point however, if the council are refusing to pay Housing Benefit on ‘a small room’ it sounds like they are referring to the private rental law that specifies the minimum size that can be rented out to a private tenant (which a lodger would be) – which is 70 sq ft minimum – which brings us right back to the question of the definition being used to class a room as a bedroom. Which just shows the torturous mockery that these changes in social security really are. Pure Kafka.
Fubar, I do hope things get sorted for you and your friend very soon. In the meantime have you tried getting in touch with your local Shelter group? It’s worth a punt.