SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT SHIELDING WEST LOTHIAN RESIDENTS FROM TORY BEDROOM TAX

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT SHIELDING WEST LOTHIAN RESIDENTS FROM TORY BEDROOM TAX

Angela Constance MSP has welcomed Scottish Government intervention to protect Almond Valley residents from Tory welfare cuts.

New figures show that 4,295 Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) were made to those on low incomes in West Lothian between April and September this year.

The total award value spent in West Lothian in this period was £2,391,062   with an average award value of £578.

The Scottish Government’s DHP scheme is an extra payment to help with housing costs, including cuts to the local housing allowance and covering in full the impact of the bedroom tax.

Angela Constance MSP  blasted the Tories’ continued defence of the bedroom tax.

The MSP for Almond Valley said:

“The bedroom tax was and remains an attack on those on the lowest incomes. 

“The Scottish Government spends millions every year shielding Scots from UK Government welfare policy.  That our devolved Government should have to protect its citizens from the cruelty of the UK state is unacceptable and unsustainable. 

“The Scottish Government has been mitigating the worst impacts of Tory austerity but we would not be in this position if Scotland had full control over its own affairs. 

“We can build something better.  Social security should be about compassion and dignity but the Tories have shamelessly presided over a callous and calculated dismantling of the welfare system. The two child cap, the rape clause, the benefits freeze, in work poverty, record food bank demand and rising child poverty – this is the legacy of the Tories in Government. 

“And now, their reckless pursuit of Brexit threatens to push yet more people into poverty – with analysis showing that a no deal Brexit would drive 130,000 Scots into poverty. 

ENDS

Full statistical publication here:

https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/dhp/30Sep2019

Background

Under the bedroom tax, social housing tenants have their housing benefits cut if they have a spare bedroom; the maximum rent that can be covered by benefits is reduced by 14% for 1 spare bedroom and 25% for 2 or more spare bedrooms.

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