'Bedroom tax' warning to hundreds of Wycombe tenants (From Bucks Free Press)
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'Bedroom tax' warning to hundreds of Wycombe tenants
12:00pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in News
'Bedroom tax' warning to hundreds of Wycombe tenants
FORMER council housing tenants have been urged not to “bury their heads in the sand” about the looming 'bedroom tax' which will affect hundreds of households in Wycombe.
Under major government welfare reforms benefits are set to be cut for those with one or more spare bedrooms in their property.
Red Kite, which took over 6,700 council homes in December, has now calculated 555 homes fall into this category.
From April, social housing tenants will lose out on 14 per cent under the new system if they have one unoccupied bedroom or 25 per cent for two.
Critics have labelled it the 'bedroom tax'.
Although Red Kite has been publicising the changes for around two months, the organisation said awareness is still low. Trevor Morrow, Chief Executive of Red Kite, said: “There's a very slow uptake of the message.
"The problem is that people bury their head in the sand until the bill arrives on their mats but we are here to make it as easy as possible.”
Red Kite believes the changes may afford an opportunity for families to move into more appropriately sized properties for their needs.
For some tenants it may mean finding a smaller home and Mr Morrow said Red Kite wants to help them prepare and downsize if that proves their best option.
Although it will be unpopular for many, especially those who have lived in their home for many years, he said, it could be a chance for overcrowded families to find larger homes.
Mr Morrow said: “The message to people is if you are under occupying and under retirement age just contact us and get your position clear and we will work that position through with you.
“If you can afford to stay that's fine for people who are working, they make that choice. The issue comes up if you can't afford it. Understand your options, work through your plan, talk to us early.
“The earlier you do it the better chance of staying in the same area.”
In future, benefits will be wrapped up into a universal credit - a new single payment for people looking for work or on a low income.
The Government has said the majority of the public agree with the welfare reforms, which it insists will make system better and fairer.
Visit www.redkitehousing.org.uk for more details. Or call 01494 476100, e-mail: contact@redkitehousing.org.uk
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (53)
12:12pm Tue 25 Sep 12
miccles says...
And the rest.
12:31pm Tue 25 Sep 12
tigeran says...
12:48pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Flackwell says...
1:18pm Tue 25 Sep 12
williamjames says...
Is this a sensible example of 'nudge' politics?
1:25pm Tue 25 Sep 12
priestess29 says...
2:04pm Tue 25 Sep 12
tigeran says...
2:08pm Tue 25 Sep 12
J B Blackett says...
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The non-council tenants people should not breathe a sigh of relief yet. .
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Neither should private property owners , who may find they eventually will pay extra tax for having spare bedrooms in their own properties.
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Please note governments and its associated bureaucracies only survive and thrive by taxing thew majority of people under their 'rule' - which ever way they can.
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It does not matter whether they are left-wing , right-wing or something else. They all do it. And the more layers of government - the more taxes as someone has to pay for collecting and administering (re-distributing ?) it all.
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It is like a chinese dragon eating its own tail until everything is gone . It can't help it.
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Perhaps an external gastric band would help.
2:16pm Tue 25 Sep 12
The Judge says...
I SUGGEST IF THIS LAW APPLIES TO YOU THAT YOU START VOICING YOUR CONCERNS. WHY SHOULD THE POOER SECTIONS OF OUR ONCE BELOVED COUNTRY BE FACED WITH EVICTION FROM THE ONE PART OF THEIR LIVES THAT OFFER A SHELTER IN THE EVER TROUBLED STORM BREWING?
THIS COUNTRY IS A DISGRACE AND I BLAME SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS WHO HAS SYSTEMATICALLY DIVULGED ITSELF FROM RESPONSIBILITY FOR REGULATION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ALLOWING THE RICH TO GET RICHER AND THE DIVIDE BETWEEN LESS WELL OF SECTIONS OF THE POPULOUS TO WIDEN.
WE ALL NEED TO STAND UP TO THESE CHANGES AND "DO A FRANCE"
JUDGE
3:46pm Tue 25 Sep 12
tigeran says...
"THIS COUNTRY IS FAST BECOMING A SOCIALIST STATE THAT OUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT AGAINST IN 2 WORLD WARS...."
No our ancestors didnt fight against socialists it was facists they fought against and alongside the socialists!!
THIS COUNTRY IS A DISGRACE AND I BLAME SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS WHO HAS SYSTEMATICALLY DIVULGED ITSELF FROM RESPONSIBILITY FOR REGULATION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ALLOWING THE RICH TO GET RICHER AND THE DIVIDE BETWEEN LESS WELL OF SECTIONS OF THE POPULOUS TO WIDEN.
Make your mind up, you either think we are becoming a socialist state OR we are becoming a capitalist state!
4:05pm Tue 25 Sep 12
sai-diva says...
4:16pm Tue 25 Sep 12
tigeran says...
Like I said home OWNERS have to so tough luck on the tennants I say. Bring it on!!
4:57pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Stalemate says...
Red Kite are well aware of what goes on, at one point they nearly re-branded as Red Light.
It is a Prostitution Tax in all but name. Why should these scrubbers avoid tax, do they think they're investment bankers or something?
5:12pm Tue 25 Sep 12
J B Blackett says...
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It might just make them look before they leap and be a bit more thoughtful , considerate and creative in their behaviour.
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At the moment we are governed / administered by just 'Sick and Self-obsessed' people who have not got a clue about ordinary peoples' lives.
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That's because they've never experienced it and have absolutely no intention of doing so - they stick with and in their own little gangs and operate at an entirely different level to the normal public.
5:30pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Stalemate says...
Lesson1: The ruling class and the rest
Summary: today JB and his pals learn all about how horrible people at the top make like miserable for all the nice people.
Homework: colour in this picture of Robin Hood, who was a lovely man, do not use too much green crayon.
5:34pm Tue 25 Sep 12
FH Leveller says...
If social housing is to meet the needs of the many then this seems like a simple, logical and fair policy to free resources.
As for private property owners (and by extension private landlords), they are already paying extra based on the value of their house, for which the number of bedrooms is a contributory factor.
5:35pm Tue 25 Sep 12
FH Leveller says...
Whilst some elderly are vulnerable equating the elderly with the vulnerable is just patronising. This is just using emotive language to hammer home a tenuous point.
7:37pm Tue 25 Sep 12
switzerland says...
There is not one microbe of empathy for the emotional impact this will have on people. and please don't repeat that tripe about 'private individuals have to downsize so why not tenants?' Why because private individuals have money invested in their house, they can choose when to sell and where to move to. This option is not offered to the 'tenant' they are limited on where they can live and where they can move to + don't forget that people who own their own homes find over the years of ownership their mortgage goes down - becoming less of a percentage of their income. The tenant is not afforded that luxury, each year of tenancy their rent goes up and therefore becomes a larger percentage of their income, in some cases as much as a mortgage would cost.
Rather than say these people should move out and let larger families move in, why not say to people don't have more children than you have rooms for!! live within your means. As for the poor person who was brought up with his mother whoring in their spare bedroom and is harbouring resentment to all single mothers, perhaps your mum was left with no other option as she wanted to ensure you were fed well and clothed well. By the way it takes two to whore, if the men hadn't come to your mum's house looking for sex then it wouldn't have happened.
8:51pm Tue 25 Sep 12
J B Blackett says...
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So I can only criticize the way things are being done from the sidelines - and very subterraneanly unless there are 'repercussions'.
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I am disinclined to join in with any of the gangs that now run this country as I do not wish to sup with the Devil.
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Anyway I think I am still allowed to criticize politicians on a local paper. Or is that to be banned too ? Nothing , even that , would surprise me really.
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I am sorry if I have denigrated any of your favourite politicians.. Unfortunately (for me) I don't have any
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10:39pm Tue 25 Sep 12
ImpeturbableLawrence says...
Why did the ones in 1945 vote in an Old Labour socialist government then?
12:10am Wed 26 Sep 12
J B Blackett says...
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And it showed that the 1945 government introduced the original unadulterated National Health and free dentistry. Also universal free education for all and the nationalization of various major industries.
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And then that lot got thrown out 5 years later.
7:08am Wed 26 Sep 12
Stalemate says...
Unfortunately there are no special prizes or recognition in this world for doing well for yourself.
Who is to say that, given their respective origins, a mother raising a child in a two bedroom Red Light property has not done equally well for herself as Roman Abramovich, who had a corporation handed to him at a tender age and was free to sell to the highest bidder, netting a huge personal fortune.
Yes, I would take the corporation from Roman just as easily as the spare bedroom from mumsy.
Society's biggest problem is the insular, unintegrated lives that so many are now leading. We all suffer by this, but none of us more than single mums, spoon-fed the house and nappy money by the State, without the faculty to see her relations severed with the rest of the world.
8:35am Wed 26 Sep 12
Flackwell says...
by releasing the spare bedroom(s), more people can be housed, but sadly we live in a 'me me' society hence all the bleeding heart posts above
8:54am Wed 26 Sep 12
Edgar Brooks says...
While you're doing that, get a dictionary, as well, and you might find out the correct words to use, instead of making a fool of yourself by using big, important-sounding (but wrong) words. "Divulge" is to impart information; perhaps you meant "divorce?" And the people living in a country is the populace, "populous" is an adjective.
As so often, so many don't read what is actually going to happen.
1/. It will only affect those on benefits, some of which they will lose, if part of the house is not being fully used.
2/. It will only affect those of working age.
3/. People willl not be evicted; they will be moved into somewhere smaller.
9:47am Wed 26 Sep 12
newmarlovian says...
We have a housing crisis in this country and this bedroom tax has come at a time when young families are unable to be housed because so many are over-housed.
11:02am Wed 26 Sep 12
tigeran says...
"As for the poor person who was brought up with his mother whoring in their spare bedroom and is harbouring resentment to all single mothers, perhaps your mum was left with no other option as she wanted to ensure you were fed well and clothed well."
Another load of dribble from a bleeding heart. Utter rubbish. If they do provide this kind of service mentioned from their council home they are probably doing so to fuel a drug or alcohol addiction and NOT to feed and clothe their children.
Please do something useful and devote your own time and money to a charity of some kind if you feel so strongly about this and stop dribbling over these pages!
1:18pm Wed 26 Sep 12
FH Leveller says...
“private individuals have money invested in their house, they can choose when to sell and where to move to”
Yes, because private individuals have invested and saved money rather than assume the state, i.e. everyone else, will supply them somewhere to live. These same individuals who have taken responsibility for their own finances should now be asked to pay ever more extortionate taxes to subsidise those in council accommodation who believe society owes them a home.
“each year of tenancy their rent goes up and therefore becomes a larger percentage of their income, in some cases as much as a mortgage would cost.”
Yes, it’s called inflation. Many benefits are tied to the rate of inflation, something people in work and paying a mortgage can only dream of when it comes to wages.
I won’t comment on your final paragraph beyond the fact that it sounds bigoted, egotistical & sanctimonious to me.
8:46am Thu 27 Sep 12
kevj99uk says...
10:55am Thu 27 Sep 12
tigeran says...
11:16am Thu 27 Sep 12
SDH says...
I had social housing and now i own, social housing helped me better my life so I could eventually afford to buy, other people get a council house and think that's the end of their worry's, no need to work or do anything demanding for the rest of their lives.
I hate Britain today! everyone is out for what they can get and expect it all for free,
12:00pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Stalemate says...
1:43pm Thu 27 Sep 12
sai-diva says...
2:16pm Thu 27 Sep 12
tigeran says...
....
2:18pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Studentbob says...
Now, if these rules had been in place then, we would have been literally on the streets as the council said we had made ourselves intentionally homeless.
Eventually we were offered a council house and now, five and a half years later, whilst still struggling to juggle part time jobs to the detriment of our childrens' upbringing, and recieving no benefits other than tax credits, we have decided to re locate from Sheffield to High Wycombe for the chance of a fresh start, a better life and future for our children.
Some people fall on hard times through no fault of their own.
Some people need a little breathing space to help them get their lives back on track.
Some people never fully recover thanks to the fractional nature of the economy and the high levels of regional unemployment that follows.
Forcing people to move because they have a spare room and don't earn enough to pay the full rent will solve nothing. The only reason there is a shortage of social housing is because a large proportion of it got sold off in the eighties, then snapped up by private landlords in the nineties pushing up rents and the cost of benefits.
"I hate Britain today! everyone is out for what they can get and expect it all for free."
Most people are probably out for what they can get. And when the gold plated pensions of corrupt MPs, police chiefs etc are abolished, and the rightful justice is imposed on those who have robbed the country of it's assets, then perhaps we can have a serious debate about the responsibility of citizens. Until that day, I will oppose any policy that seeks to demonise the poor whose only crime is being poor.
2:19pm Thu 27 Sep 12
secretgilly says...
2:21pm Thu 27 Sep 12
secretgilly says...
3:12pm Thu 27 Sep 12
tigeran says...
6:00pm Thu 27 Sep 12
ImpeturbableLawrence says...
The article on the man who was airlifted to hospital after what must have been a right-on confrontation at Downley was posted one day earlier on 24 September.
The other article more than 48 hours old is is ‘1. Wycombe's inspiration for The Mighty Boosh’ - apparently the most read article on the site. This has been the most read article in the BFP since it was posted at lunchtime on Saturday 10th September – seventeen days ago and comments are no longer allowed on it. The Mighty Boosh is the name for a two-man comedy team – I wonder if one of them is the one has a close relation at a senior level of management in Newsquest – possibly at Loudwater.
6:11pm Thu 27 Sep 12
ImpeturbableLawrence says...
7:20pm Thu 27 Sep 12
J B Blackett says...
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There are also too many poor people in this country.
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In fact there are too many people in this country - and not enough jobs for them either.
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The rich and the poor will always be with us - and that applies is so-called 'egalitarian' societies too.
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So the people in the middle are obliged to pay taxes to support quite a few of the rest who cannot work for whatever reason. Even when there are no jobs or no prospect of any. That's the way this British / Euro system is set up to work.
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So if providing accommodation is part of that set-up then it has to be paid for.
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The people at the very top appear to some to be quite untouchable and get away with paying the least tax (percentage-wise). That's the system our politicians have devised - as it appears to suit quite a few of them.
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However as long as there are too many people in the world , these problems can only get worse , as governments seem to have no answer to it and pretend it does not exist.
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So there is no answer to that for the ordinary man /woman in the street.
8:16pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Barbara B says...
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This is all very well and good but where are the smaller homes? We have an acute housing shortage, not just social housing, housing in general that is affordable to anyone one on an average wage! It is all well and good reducing benefits, most of us agree that in some cases the benefit system has enabled people to be work shy but a bedroom tax, as it is called, can only be achieved if there are suitable alternatives on offer. I also understand that this welfare reform and bedroom tax only affects those under 61, isn't it the case that most 3 bedroom homes/ family homes, are under occupied by pensioners?
8:24pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Barbara B says...
1:10am Fri 28 Sep 12
ImpeturbableLawrence says...
1:57pm Fri 28 Sep 12
sai-diva says...
2:02pm Fri 28 Sep 12
sai-diva says...
I'm sure ther are 'ladies of the night' in red house accomodation, they're a big concern, as there are probably young professionals, nurses, cleaners, factory workers and some 'dodgy characters' as well, just as there are in wider society
4:29pm Fri 28 Sep 12
tigeran says...
5:00pm Fri 28 Sep 12
sai-diva says...
I love your use of 'blind ignorance' and 'torrent' in regard to myself.
Coming from someone who believes all travellers(I shan't use your usual racist term) should be 'sent back'. that all benefit claiments are 'scum' and should have their benefits cut to a minimum, that all prisoners should be hanged or kept in a 6 x 4 cell, fed the bare minimum,and that cyclists should be forced off the road I think the words 'pot' 'kettle' spring to mind.
I can't say for certain but I would imagine that I'm better educated than you are as well, I'm certainly better mannered.
2:07pm Sat 29 Sep 12
scaredlady10 says...
Anyway back to the subject in hand. I totally agree with the "bedroom tax". People in council tenancies already have a lower rent than in the private sector. As the family leave home you down size. As regard private homeowners can afford to live where they like and the size of house they would like etc. No they can't always. People have to buy the size house their mortgage allows them to. If due to a change they cannot afford that house, they then have to try an move.
Do not drivel on about their surroundings etc. My mother has recently had to downsize. You make new friends where you are moving to. Also if somebody is in a larger house than they require, and they cannot really afford to live in it so they get housing benefit...ie money from the taxpayer..why should they be allowed to continue living there ,without some sort of penalty. If they can afford the increased rent all well and good. If they can't then they should move to a property they can afford. I suggest you reqd the money saving expert forums to see what taxpayers think of this idea on there. My background is that i grew up in council housing, so i can see it from both sides.
10:12am Sun 30 Sep 12
The Judge says...
I SUSPECT THE SUICIDE RATE WILL INCREASE IN BUCKS AND THIS WILL BE ON THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO BRING IN THE LUDICROUS IDEA AND OF THOSE WHO SUPPORT IT.
JUDGE
10:38am Sun 30 Sep 12
Barbara B says...
3:00pm Sun 30 Sep 12
J B Blackett says...
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If someone is receiving 'benefits' or special allowances and it is taken away from them , they are going to get upset.
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I think they really should be a lot more upset than the indignant protesting MPs who falsely (and criminally) claimed millions of pounds by fiddling their 'expenses' ,'fees' and 'allowances'. Elected to positions in which they performed very very poorly as it turned out. And then tried to cover it all up.
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And they should be even more upset by the deceitful arrogant bankers and friends who got 'special allowances' and 'grants' (up to £60,000,000 each in the case of Barclays Bank) for just doing a job they were employed with very high salaries to do anyway. Jobs they did very very badly as it turned out. And then tried to cover all the deceit up.
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In spite of a string of inept but posturing and lying PMs and Chancellors - money to pay these cheats all inevitably and eventually comes out of other people's pockets.
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And all that disappears out of sight into the murky depths of some undeserving people's vast treasure stores.
That's the reason people are having cuts in resources , facilities and services of all sorts inflicted on them and that includes being shifted around areas on the whim of two-faced politicians and their lackeys.
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What's not to understand ?
4:37pm Sun 30 Sep 12
Barbara B says...
5:16pm Sun 30 Sep 12
The Judge says...
JUDGE
8:37pm Sun 30 Sep 12
tigeran says...