The Committee calls once more
for a clear commitment from the Scottish Government that it will use its chosen
method of mitigating the effects of the bedroom tax - Discretionary
Housing Payments or DHPs – to mitigate all the financial impact of the
bedroom tax, both past and present, on tenants in
Scotland.
The Government confirmed in a
letter to the Committee, from David Mundell MP, that Scottish Ministers will be
allowed to set the statutory cap on DHPs in Scotland, allowing them to increase
the amount paid through DHPs to cover all of the loss caused by the bedroom tax
if they choose to. The Committee welcomes this, and the Scottish
Government’s commitment to make additional funding available for
mitigation.
The Committee says both
Governments should expedite the necessary procedures which will enable the
Scottish Government to lift the cap on DHPs in Scotland as quickly as
possible.
Chair's
comments
Ian Davidson MP, Chair of the
Committee, said:
“These decisions show that
devolution works.
“We now urge the UK and
the Scottish Governments to move quickly to enable the Scottish Government to
lift the cap on DHPs in Scotland as soon as possible.
“In the meantime, the
Scottish Government should make a clear commitment to provide sufficient
funding to enable every Local Authority in Scotland to make DHP payments which
will cover the full costs of the bedroom tax since it was introduced for all of
those who have been affected by it.
“That means paying the
bedroom tax for every Scottish tenant for the current financial
year.
“But it also means giving
Scotland’s councils enough money to write off bedroom tax arrears that
accrued during the previous financial year and, crucially, to refund all
additional rent that has been paid as a result of the bedroom tax. To fail to
do this would be penalising those who scrimped and saved and did their best to
make extra payments that they never should have had to
make.”
Further
information