bedroom tax

The impact of the Bedroom Tax in Scotland: interim report (fourth report of session 2013-14)

The removal of the spare room subsidy, also known as the bedroom tax or under occupation penalty, came into force on 1 April 2013. The aim of the policy was twofold: to reduce housing benefit expenditure, and to use existing public sector housing stock more efficiently.

The government estimated that 80,000 claimants in Scotland would be affected by the bedroom tax, with an average weekly loss of £12. This represented approximately 33% of the working age housing benefit claimants in Scotland.

The 'Bedroom Tax' in Scotland: welfare reform committee 5th report, 2013 (Session 4)

Report on the Housing Benefit Under-Occupation Charge to the Welfare Reform Committee of the Scottish Parliament.

The research was commissioned to give a deeper understanding of scale and the depth of those affected (at Scottish and local authority level) by the under-occupation charge and the capacity of the system to meet down-sizing demand via one bed vacancies coming forward in a given year (a rough proxy for capacity).