If you live in council housing or social housing (like a housing association), and claim housing benefit, your benefit will now be cut if you have a spare room.
If you have children that do not live with you all the time, if you have children under 12 with separate bedrooms, or if you have a child with a disability who needs support, you will lose part of your housing benefit.
The government says that the Bedroom Tax is to encourage people to move to smaller accommodation - even though there are very few such houses available. The real impact will be to move people from secure, rent-controlled tenancies in social housing into the private sector, where landlords can set whatever rent they want and tenancy agreements are shorter.
This tax is aimed squarely at the poor, the out of work and people on low incomes. 650,000 families across the country will be affected by this tax.
The government is not having it all its own way. Across the country, people are fighting back. Some councils have promised not to evict for non-payment, and others, like Derby Council are trying to redesignate spare rooms to spare tenants the tax. But this will not stop the government from implementing the tax wherever it can and putting pressure on councils to comply.
The best way to end this tax is through a campaign of non-payment - and that needs communities to stand together.
This blog has been set up as part of an attempt to create a group in Derby that will campaign and fight to defend the people of our city and make it impossible for the government to implement this tax. If you want to join us, email derbyagainstcuts@gmail.com.
