Philip Connolly, policy officer at Disability Rights UK, said it was “mystifying” why disabled adults were being treated differently from disabled children
Speaking to the Observer he said:
“Why should it matter if you are one day after your 16th birthday or one day before? It’s an iniquitous tax. Why should people be forced to uproot themselves because they have a spare room?”
Lawyers have been given permission to take the decision R oao MA & Others -v- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to the Supreme Court.
This was a Court of Appeal decision which upheld the ruling of an earlier High Court decision. The High Court accepted that the bedroom tax in relation to adults was discriminatory, but that this was objectively and reasonably justified and therefore lawful because discretionary payments are available to cover HB losses as a result of the bedroom tax. At the same time the bedroom tax was held to be discriminatory in relation to children unable to share a bedroom because of their disabilities.