MPs have voted in favour of the Carers Bedroom Entitlement (Social Housing Sector) Bill. The Bill has passed its first reading
The Bill proposes that people in receipt of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit and accommodated in the social housing sector be entitled to an additional bedroom related to caring responsibilities or overnight care; and for connected purposes.
“The Bill would exempt households with one additional room from the bedroom tax if a member of the household is entitled to carers allowance. It would also widen that exemption to households in which a person needs overnight care. Those simple measures would have a significant impact on a group of people who deserve support, rather than being unfairly hit financially, as they have been by this Government. I fully support my party’s plans to abolish the bedroom tax if elected in 2015, but it is also right that we should focus on the impact of the bedroom tax on the financial situation of unpaid family carers right now.”
[Hansard 14 Oct 2014 : Column 162]
The Bill should receive its second reading in the House of Commons on 21 November 2014.