Bedroom tax to hit 1,500 North Lincs households: People on benefits being punished, says disabled Scunthorpe man

“how about this one.....get a job and get your own house. then you can have as many bedrooms as you like”

“About time people started understanding that social housing isn't an entitlement. Going off on a tangent so please don't shoot me down in flames, But why is it that "the poor" are nearly always not short of a meal or ten, can all afford to smoke and are often see pushing trolleys full of cheap booze along Scotter Road. Anyway, if social housing was means tested then maybe some of those high earning workers might be shifted out into the real world and in doing so make way for those that really need a tax payer subsidies house.”

“As stated before if you wanted a house for life you should have bought one forgone holidays abroad posh cars , House owners buyers some times had to give up to keep their houses in good condition worked hard no free upgrades modern kitchens , new heating systems , Some people in social housing even had the chance to buy at a discount but did not , preferring the easy option . Social housing was meant to help people save to get them on housing ladder cheap rent , Smaller one bedroom accommodation should have been built to help those who now need to down grade .”

“perhaps the amount of rent paid in real money in pre h/b and council tax benefit should be taken into consideration!”

“When you take a one or 2 or 3 bedroom home you already pay enough rent for that property. so why charge extra now it isn't fair. Why should people have to move and set up a new home if they got there old home due to been disabled at birth!. And people have lived there for 40 to 50 years.”

“Having seen all about this in papers etc and then heard the options that are avaliable to discuss to help you i am just wondering how much they will help. I myself am on JSA ( not because i am lazy but because my daughter has a medical condition and was left unable to walk or use her arms and was only 14 at the time so i had to resign from my job to look after her )she is now in college . We struggle to get by but we do manage.I wonder who thought of these options and if they thought of the implications of them;
Option 1 - Move to a smaller property ,even if it means moving out of town and away from your family. Lets be real there are not enough properties for everyone to move.
Option 2 - Take in a lodger , which would then technically mean in my position i am getting an income which will affect my money not to mention i would not be single occupancy for my council tax so then that would go up too. Plus i don't think lodgers fall from trees, as well as they could look honest and have references but who's to say they won't rob you blind , then you have nothing left.
Option 3 - Do a house swap , good idea but you still have to leave your home and if you swapped with another person who is also on benefit they are not saving any on the benefit they pay out as they will still be paying it all for both parties so what is the point in them doing this in the first place.”

“In general I agree with the policy but there are some exceptions such as a dissabled lady on tv that had to have her own room as not enough room for 2 so her husband who is carer sleeps in second bedroom. I also think the housing organisation and goverment should start now building one bedroomed properties, if teraced houses they will get more on a plot of land, should have rear yard with room for a small shed, wheelie bins and parking area for one car. Over the years there have been to many of the higher value larger and detached homes built, we now are moving back a hundred or so years where we now need those one up one down properties that were demolished instead of refurbished. In the fifties and sixties lots of single people lived in boarding houses or with relatives and friends that had a spare room, but most people then were at work all day and many paying up to 80% of their wages in lodging charges in some jobs.”

“this bedroom tax seems targeted at people in social houseing how about catching up with those who rent off relatives( with different names) and claim pension credit, houseing benefit,and council tax benefit etc.time for a rethink.”

“Scabs, for your post to make sense you must first give us your definition of poverty. Not being able to jet off to spain once a year is not poverty.”

“Child poverty facts and figures

•There are 3.6 million children living in poverty in the UK today. That's 27 per cent of children, or more than one in four.1
•There are even more serious concentrations of child poverty at a local level: in 100 local wards, for example, between 50 and 70 per cent of children are growing up in poverty.2
•Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of children growing up in poverty live in a household where at least one member works.3
•People are poor for many reasons. But explanations which put poverty down to drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown, poor parenting, or a culture of worklessness are not supported by the facts.4
•Child poverty blights childhoods. Growing up in poverty means being cold, going hungry, not being able to join in activities with friends. For example, 62 per cent of families in the bottom income quintile would like, but cannot afford, to take their children on holiday for one week a year.5
•Child poverty has long-lasting effects. By 16, children receiving free school meals achieve 1.7 grades lower at GCSE than their wealthier peers.6 Leaving school with fewer qualifications translates into lower earnings over the course of a working life.
•Poverty is also related to more complicated health histories over the course of a lifetime, again influencing earnings as well as the overall quality – and indeed length - of life. Professionals live, on average, eight years longer than unskilled workers.7
•Child poverty imposes costs on broader society – estimated to be at least £25 billion a year.8 Governments forgo prospective revenues as well as commit themselves to providing services in the future if they fail to address child poverty in the here and now.
•Child poverty reduced dramatically between 1998/9-2010/12 when 1.1 million children were lifted out of poverty (BHC).9 This reduction is credited in large part to measures that increased the levels of lone parents working, as well as real and often significant increases in the level of benefits paid to families with children.
•Under current government policies, child poverty is projected to rise from 2012/13 with an expected 300,000 more children living in poverty by 2015/16.10 This upward trend is expected to continue with 4.2 million children projected to be living in poverty by 2020.”