MPs urge scrapping of ‘bedroom tax’
A House of Commons select committee has called on David Cameron’s Government to scrap the “bedroom tax” changes to housing benefit.
16th December 2013
The Scottish Affairs Committee said that while ministers considered whether to repeal the measure, the Government should suspend the penalty for claimants who cannot reasonably be offered alternative accommodation.
The MPs said the measure, which cuts housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have a spare room, was ” a budget cut suffered by those in greatest need”.
The interim report was opposed by Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs on the Labour-led committee, but they failed to prevent it being produced.
The Government reduced entitlement to housing benefit for working-age tenants in April 2013. Those with an extra bedroom have a reduction of 14% to their eligible rent, and those with two or more extra bedrooms lose 25%.
The Government estimated that 80,000 claimants in Scotland would be affected by the bedroom tax, with an average weekly loss of £12.
Four out of 10 elderly needing care shut out of system as rules toughened up unofficially
Almost 40 per cent of elderly people who would have qualified for care in recent years now excluded after social workers ordered to apply tougher eligibility tests unofficially, report concludes
More than 450,000 frail elderly and disabled people who would until recently have received state-funded care have been shut of the system because of pressure to cut numbers, a stark new report concludes.
The academic study, published as MPs prepare to debate the Government’s long-awaited overhaul of care, found that almost 40 per cent of those who would have had some help with basic tasks such as washing and dressing less than a decade ago are now left to fend for themselves.
It comes as an alliance of 75 charities warned that the Government’s good intentions in overhauling the system risk being completely undermined by a “black hole” in funding for social care.
The report, by researchers at the London School of Economics, describes cuts in the last two years alone as “without precedent in the history of adult social care”.
It warns that the care system is now caught in a “vicious circle” with fewer and fewer people receiving help at home but more and more likely to have to turn to the NHS – something which could ultimately cost the taxpayer more.
We need help now to fight this illness
COUPLE: Ray and Jean Boswell are united in their battle against the ravages of dementia.
5:10pm Saturday 14th December 2013 in News By James Connell
But Ray Boswell, aged 75, of Stourport, says those with the disease and their carers need support “here and now” to cope with the impact of the devastating degenerative brain illness. Prime Minister David Cameron said a cure could be “within our grasp” when he addressed scientists, politicians and campaigners at the dementia summit in London this week, called by the UK as part of its year-long chairmanship of the G8.
Mr Cameron wants the Government to double public, commercial and charitable research and development in dementia, from £66 million in 2015, to £132 million by 2025. He said the world should be “just as resolute” in tackling dementia as it had been in the past against malaria, cancer, HIV and Aids.
