'Bedroom tax' causes distress: MPS

Press Association
Updated
File photo dated 22/01/2014 of a general view of residential houses and flats, as confidence in the housing market is growing, assisted by Government-backed initiatives such as Help to Buy, according to newly published research. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday January 27, 2014. The scheme is particularly popular with young people, the study found. See PA story ECONOMY Housing. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire



%VIRTUAL-SkimlinksPromo%Disabled people are suffering "severe financial hardship and distress" as a result of the so-called bedroom tax, a cross-party committee of MPs has concluded.

The decision to reduce housing benefit payments from social tenants deemed to have a larger home than they need - officially known as the social sector size criteria (SSSC) but described by ministers as the removal of a "spare room subsidy" - has hit vulnerable people who were not the intended targets of the reform and have little hope of moving to a smaller property, the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee found.

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