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Bedroom Tax & Policing - Bristol Voxpops by Marina Morris

140 views · Published 5 October 2013 · 8:44 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: Public Enquiry · 2013 · News & Politics

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Bedroom Tax costing more than it saves as housing benefit bill soars by £1.5bn
24 Aug 2013 Daily Mirror
Figures from the Commons library show the amount of housing benefit paid to private landlords will rise from £7.9billion to £9.4billion
The cost of welfare is set to soar by an extra £1.5billion a year -- because of rocketing rents and the hated Bedroom Tax.
Figures from the Commons library show the amount of housing benefit paid to private landlords will rise from £7.9billion to £9.4billion.
And it is forecast to increase still further over the next three years.
Labour MP Karen Buck, who unearthed the figures, said: "Despite the bluster, the truth is that in the Tories' low-wage, high-rent Britain, housing benefit has risen rather than fallen, with the biggest pressure coming from working people needing help with housing costs."
The Tory-led Coalition said it would cut the welfare bill but housing benefit costs have risen sharply as private landlords have pushed up rents.
At the same time some councils have been forced to rehouse victims of the Bedroom Tax from cheaper council housing into more expensive private rental properties. Labour said the policy was the "economics of the madhouse".
The tax, introduced in April, docks the housing benefit of anyone living in a council house with a spare bedroom.
Families either have to pay at least £14 a week more or find alternative accommodation.
But putting them up in privately rented homes is proving more expensive for local authorities.
There are now 5,072,264 people in the UK claiming housing benefit, a rise of more than 40,000 on this time last year.
To add to the misery, tenants have seen their rents rise by an inflation busting 3% on average in the past 12 months.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bedroom-tax-costing-more-saves-2214198

Commissioner fears for 200 police jobs
Tuesday, July 02, 2013 The Bristol Post
POLICE and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens fears the Government's latest budget cuts could put more than 200 jobs at risk.
Last week, Chancellor George Osborne announced £11.5 billion of "savings" in the Comprehensive Spending Review for 2015-16. Although effects on police funding have not yet been announced, the Home Office, which provides about two-thirds of police funding, may see its annual budget cut by 20 per cent.
This is bound to mean Avon and Somerset police will have to make more budget cuts. And Ms Mountstevens fears that could leave the constabulary's policing and staff levels at risk. Currently, police officers cannot be made redundant but, when spending is tight, retiring officers tend not be replaced.
Ms Mountstevens said: "There is no question that cuts of this scale will be painful to the organisation and will be felt by residents. Finding further savings of nearly £15 million over the next two years will mean fundamental changes to policing and tough decisions about what we do in the future. It will also mean fewer police officers and staff, with more than 200 further policing posts at risk to meet the required savings.
"Over the coming weeks, we will be working through the detail of the Government's announcement. I will be talking to the public about the tough decisions we face and I will carry out a full discussion with residents about any possible increases to the policing part of the council tax to protect frontline officers. There are huge challenges ahead. The priority remains to keep residents safe and feeling safe."
People are being asked to have their say on the policing part of the council tax at http://www.consultation.avonandsomerset.police.uk or at local events.

Read more: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Commissioner-fears-200-police-jobs/story-19452069-detail/story.html

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