A number of disabled people appealed to the Supreme Court over the application of the bedroom tax to their cases
The Supreme Court’s judgment ruled on a number of different points – the claimants were successful in some and not in others. The government also appealed and lost against parts of the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
One case, centred on a lady who her appeal. Because of her disabilities she can’t share a bedroom with her partner. Under the scheme her family isn’t entitled to an extra room.
The Supreme Court said that the difference in treatment between children and adults was a breach of the human rights not to be discriminated against (article 14) and the protection of family and private life (article 8). The policy was “manifestly without reasonable
Justice Lord Toulson said, “I cannot, with respect, see a sensible reason for distinguishing between adult partners who cannot share a bedroom because of disability and children who cannot do so because of disability.”
What this means is that the part of the bedroom tax scheme which affected this case will be struck down – the government will have to revise the scheme to make it fair to adults with disabilities.
Supreme Court judgment https://www.supremecourt.uk/…/d…/uksc-2014-0125-judgment.pdf
Supreme Court press summary: https://www.supremecourt.uk/…/uksc-2014-0125-press-summary.…
bedroom tax – (in the UK) an informal name for a measure introduced in the Welfare Reform Act 2012, by which the amount of housing benefit paid to a claimant is reduced if the property they are renting is judged to have more bedrooms than necessary
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