Social housing tenants affected by welfare changes are being issued with advice on what to do if they believe their claim has been wrongly assessed.
Around 11,000 people in the city are affected by the so called ‘bedroom tax’ introduced by the Government, which results in reduced housing benefit payments for people of working age.
Deputy Mayor and Cabinet member for Finance, Councillor Paul Brant, said: “We have been approached by many people who are adversely affected by the changes to housing benefit.
“We are working closely with social landlords to help and support tenants. There is no charge for appeals, or the reassessment of cases.
“We would advise people who believe the assessment on the number of bedrooms in their property is incorrect to contact their landlord in the first instance, as the landlord provides this information to the Council.”
“If people believe we have assessed their claim using incorrect or out of date information, for example if the number of people living in a property has changed, they should contact the Benefits Service.
“There is a limited amount of money available to help people in the most need. But we are having to apply strict criteria due to the limited funding that we have available.”
More information about the spare room subsidy or ‘bedroom tax’ can be found here
Some limited funding is available for Discretionary Housing Payments for people in the most need. More details and the application criteria can be found here
