6% of bedroom tax-hit tenants have moved home

The BBC research was based on information provided by 331 social landlords across England, Scotland and Wales with freedom of information requests submitted to councils and surveys of housing associations.

Kate Webb, head of policy at housing charity Shelter, said to the BBC that this was due to a lack of suitable housing to move into.

‘In the short term, the government has to think seriously about whether this is a sensible policy, given that we don’t have the smaller homes for people to move in to, and given the levels of hardship and arrears that we are unfortunately going to see building up,’ she said.

The research also found that 11 per cent of housing benefit recipients have been hit by the bedroom tax and 28 per cent of the tenants have fallen into arrears for the first time. Three per cent have had legal action taken against them.

However, speaking to the BBC, Esther McVey, employment minster, disputed the figure and said councils and the National Housing Federation found an ‘indiscerninble number’ of tenants were in arrears and that 50 per cent were in arrears before the tax was introduced.

To read more about the bedroom tax click here.