Bedroom Tax Demo – 5th April – One Year On

Hated, unjust and unworkable. One year on the Bedroom Tax is still there – but only just. Campaigning locally and nationally has had an effect.

* In Scotland the Tax has been defeated.

* Pressure has meant the Labour Party has promised they will abolish the tax.

* Birmingham City Council has admitted 3000 people in long term tenancies had benefits taken away in error and they will be given a rebate.

*Court cases have ruled in favour of disabled couples having separate rooms if they wish, and in favour of separated parents needing a room for visiting children, and that a room must be in use as a bedroom to count as a bedroom. These cases could see hundreds of thousands given rebates due to unlawfully having their benefit cut

Protest for benefit justice

Saturday 5th April

1:00pm, Waterstones, High St, City Centre

Multiple Bedroom Tax Court Case Victories Could Mean Hundreds Of Thousands Exempted

Over the past two weeks, the disastrous bedroom tax has faced multiple court cases, with each case finding that the claimant has had their benefits cut wrongly – and all for a different reason. This policy could now be in the running to beat the Dangerous Dogs act as the worst piece of legislation ever. Sadly it has had a calamitous effect on many peoples’ lives, even leading to the suicide of Stephanie Bottrill – who should never have been threatened by eviction as a result of the benefit cut because she had been claiming continuously since 1996. Hundreds of thousands of those affected by the bedroom tax may now be in line for rebates as a result of the multitude of court cases. Iain Duncan-Smith should be facing the sack for his incompetence.

Birmingham Benefits Justice Campaign Join Lobby Of Parliament

5 members of Birmingham Benefit Justice joined the lobby at parliament yesterday as MPs voted on the bedroom tax. Lobbyists in committee room 12 rose to give a standing ovation to protester Robert Punton as he condemned many politicians’ statements as “just wind in the air. He demanded: “Prove it on the streets. Prove it with action, not with words.” Sue Malins from Druids Heath gave a stirring speech to the protestors outside parliament and Robert Brenchley gave an interview to the press so we definitely felt it was worth going down.

Iain Duncan-Smith, architect of this policy failure – which is now seeing social housing head for demolition as no-one can afford to pay the bedroom tax – was too cowardly to even attend the debate, running off Paris instead. The vote was lost by 252 to 226 votes, meaning the bedroom tax will continue.

Now we are going to direct our fire at Lib Dems who voted for the tax – notably John Hemming.

Protest at John Hemming Surgery Liberal Democrat Office 1772 Coventry Road Birmingham B26 1PB
Sat 16th nov 10.45-12.00

Bedroom Tax – Unfair, Unworkable and Counterproductive

 

Photo (c) Geoff Dexter-Sherbourne – flickr

Yesterday, anti-bedroom tax campaigners lobbied Birmingham City Council to enact a no eviction policy, so that those who are caught by this unfair charge do not risk losing their homes. Veronica Kenning, a Shard End resident who has terminal cancer and is refusing to leave her home is facing eviction as a result of bedroom tax debts. Well-wishers of Veronica will be gathering at her home tomorrow from 4pm-6pm to show support. At the council meeting yesterday, the council passed a motion calling for the policy to be scrapped, another sign of growing resistance from the local Labour party.

Lobby The Council – 8th October

Lobby the Council – 8th October.
AXE the BEDROOM TAX NOW!
Victoria Square 1 pm onwards.
No evictions

Stop all court summonses for arrears due to the bedroom tax.
Cancel all arrears caused by the tax.

We can’t wait for a Labour government to get rid of the bedroom tax – Labour councils must lead a campaign to get rid of the tax NOW.

Please bring any petitions against the bedroom tax to hand in to the council.
The meeting starts at 2pm – we need to be there before that to lobby the councillors as they go in.

Bedroom Tax Stalls And Leafletting In September

There will be Anti Bedroom Tax campaign stalls on Friday 13 Sept from 12 noon and Sat 21st Sept from 12 noon

The Bullring Markets nr St Martins

We will also be petitioning, leafleting and signing people up for the Manchester protest.

Defeat the bedroom tax!

The Bedroom Tax is one of the worst policies ever – failing at a technical level as the housing benefit bill rises and doing so badly that even Conservative Party Councillors have voted to support a motion that the charge should be scrapped.

This story is about the failure at the human level of the charge – Veronica Kenning, resident of Shard End, unable to pay the tax, suffering from terminal cancer and not willing to move as she faces the final few months of her life. This is the unfair, unjust side of the bedroom tax – it is a failure of a policy at a financial, technical, human and moral level and needs to be scrapped now.
Join with us, the Birmingham Benefit Justice Campaign and Communities Against The Cuts, Birmingham Claimants Union and other groups fighting to get the charge scrapped.

communitiesagainstthecuts

Our post of 12^th August reported that a Council official was coming to visit Veronica Kenning of Shard End on the 22^nd August, regarding her non-payment of the Bedroom tax. Well, the visit has come and gone but nothing has changed, except she faces court action in 5 -7 weeks’ time.

 Veronica, 57, was adamant that she would not pay, and she still is. This is a moral stance for her, on behalf of the many others who find themselves in a terrible situation because of this unjust tax.

Since she was sent a letter on the 27^th February 2013 telling her to pay £23.57 extra a week bedroom tax, she has found her situation severely traumatic. Not only is she disabled, but is dying of cancer. And now she has all this to worry about on top.

The statement she gave to the Council visitor made…

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Birmingham City Council Adds £2m To The Bedroom Tax Discretionary Housing Payment Fund

The bedroom tax is leading to a huge increase in arrears – expected to cost the council £1.4m in 2013/14, houses being left empty and a massive increase in cost for councils. Birmingham City Council, like every other council, has far too few smaller properties for people to move to, and in addition to that worries about increased homelessness. This week a cabinet report revealed that they have decided to add £2million to the Discretionary Housing Payment fund (DHP) for 2013/14, earmarked for people affected by the bedroom tax.

Bedroom Tax: Three Birmingham Councillors Pledge To Stand With Constituents Against Bailiffs

Three Birmingham Labour councillors vowed to support tenants affected by the controversial ‘Bedroom Tax’. Penny Holbrook, Mick Finnegan and Josh Jones, all of Erdington’s Stockland Green ward stated on Wednesday that they supported all tactics by campaigners in opposition to the bedroom tax apart from any which involved violence.

Saturday’s Bedroom Tax Protest March Route

A demonstration against the bedroom tax will take place on Saturday in Birmingham, in memory of Stephanie Bottrill who committed suicide, blaming the government in her suicide note. Like many facing the bedroom tax, Stephanie was not able to find a smaller property to move to, and was only offered one six miles away from her support networks, friends and family.
The demonstration on Saturday meets in Chamberlain Square at 12noon. The march will proceed down New Street onto High Street, up Union Street and Cherry Street to the Cathedral, down Temple street to New Street and back to Chamberlain Square. There will be a shortened route that stops at the junction on New St and Temple St, waiting for protesters to complete the long route before heading back to Chamberlain Square.

12noon, Saturday 15th June
Chamberlain Square.
Long march route: approx 1 mile.
Short march route: approx 0.4miles / 700meters
The march returns to Chamberlain Square so anyone who does not want to or cannot walk the short route can remain in Chamberlain Square.

Birmingham City Centre is step free. Accessible toilets are available in Paradise Forum by Chamberlain Square, and a single person accessible public toilet is located in Victoria Square, less than 100m from Chamberlain Square.
Various accessible toilets are available along the march route in the Pallisades, Bullring and Pavilions shopping centre, and in restaurants and pubs.