What is the so-called 'bedroom tax'?

• Under controversial plans, those living in social housing who are deemed to have a spare bedroom will be asked to downsize or face a cut in benefits from April.
• Ministers want to cut housing benefit by 14% for those deemed to have one extra bedroom and 25% for claimants with two or more spare bedrooms.

How many people will this affect?

• The 'bedroom tax' will affect around 660,000 social housing tenants across the country.

Who will be affected?

• Separated parents who share the care of their children and who may have been allocated an extra bedroom to reflect this. Benefit rules mean that there must be a designated ‘main carer’ for children (who receives the extra benefit).
• Couples who use their spare bedroom when recovering from an illness or operation.
• Foster carers because foster children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes.
• Parents whose children visit but are not part of the household.
• Families with disabled children.
• Disabled people including people living in adapted or specially designed properties.

Source: The National Housing Federation

Why do the government want to cut housing benefit?

• The government says the proposals will save money and help deal with a housing shortage by encouraging people to move out of homes that are too big for them.

We believe this tax is wrong.  We believe thousands of people with a disability will face additional costs and may even lose their home because of this tax (the DWP estimates that 420,000 of the 660,000 to be initially affected by the tax are disabled).  We are campaigning against this and we want your help. 

Please tell us if this will affect you and what it will mean to you.  People stories are one of the strongest ways we can show the unjust impact of this tax.

In addition please ask your MP to add their signature to an early day motion called under occupancy penalty and the vulnerable. You can view the motion on the parliament website by clicking here.