The Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called bedroom tax discriminates against a domestic violence victim and the family of a disabled teenager.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe ruling followed legal challenges by a woman who has a panic room in her home, and the grandparents of a 15-year-old who requires overnight care.<\/p>\n
The removal in 2013 of what the government calls the spare room subsidy cuts benefits for social housing tenants with a \u201cspare\u201d room.<\/p>\n
Ministers have said they will appeal.<\/p>\n
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) argued that it had given councils money to make discretionary payments to people facing hardship because of the policy change.<\/p>\n
The case is now due to be decided in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister David Cameron said the government would \u201clook very carefully\u201d at the judgement. \u201cBut our fundamental position is it is unfair to subsidise spare rooms in the social sector if we don\u2019t subsidise them in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the cases \u2013 brought by a woman identified as \u201cA\u201d \u2013 concerned the effect of the policy on women living in properties adapted because of risks to their lives. Her home was equipped with a panic room.<\/p>\n
The second case \u2013 brought by Pembrokeshire couple Paul and Susan Rutherford and their 15-year-old grandson Warren \u2013 focused on the impact of the policy on disabled children needing overnight care.<\/p>\n
The BBC\u2019s legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman said the ruling would affect only people within these two specific groups \u2013 severely disabled children needing overnight care and victims of domestic violence living in specially adapted accommodation.<\/p>\n
There are believed to be about 300 such victims of domestic violence and thousands of severely disabled children in this situation.<\/p>\n
The Court of Appeal ruling comes after a judicial review brought by the Rutherfords was dismissed in the High Court in 2014.<\/p>\n
Housing benefit changes \u2013 dubbed the \u201cbedroom tax\u201d by Labour \u2013 were introduced in April 2013. Since then families claiming housing benefits have been assessed for the number of bedrooms they actually need.<\/p>\n
Families deemed by their local authorities to have too much living space have received reduced benefits, with payments being cut by 14% if they have one spare bedroom.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Both \u201cA\u201d and the Rutherfords claimed that the policy change discriminated against them unlawfully.<\/p>\n
\u2018Not justified\u2019<\/h3>\n
Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, Lord Justice Tomlinson and Lord Justice Vos ruled in their favour, saying the \u201cadmitted discrimination\u201d in each case \u201chas not been justified by the Secretary of State\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Rutherford said he was \u201cabsolutely delighted\u201d with the ruling, adding: \u201cI couldn\u2019t have had a better start to the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so unfair that somebody had to do something to get the law changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Spencer, from the Child Poverty Action Group, said the ruling meant families \u201ccan stay in their homes safe in the knowledge that their disabled children can get the care they need\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rebekah Carrier, a solicitor acting for \u201cA\u201d, said: \u201cOur client\u2019s life is at risk and she is terrified. The anxiety caused by the bedroom tax and the uncertainty about this case has been huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said the government \u201cfundamentally\u201d disagreed with the court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already been granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. We know there will be people who need extra support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we are giving local authorities over \u00a3870m in extra funding over the next five years to help ensure people in difficult situations like these don\u2019t lose out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shadow work and pensions secretary, Owen Smith, said the ruling provided \u201ca glimmer of hope for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been hit by this cruel policy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely the time has now come for the Tories to discover a conscience, listen to the courts as well as the public, and scrap the hated bedroom tax.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government \u2013 which rejects the term \u201cbedroom tax\u201d \u2013 says the regulations remove what is in fact a spare room subsidy.<\/p>\n
It says it aims to encourage people to move to smaller properties, potentially saving about \u00a3480m a year from the housing benefit bill.<\/p>\n
-bbc<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
[ad_2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[ad_1] The Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called bedroom tax discriminates against a domestic violence victim and the family of a disabled teenager. The ruling followed legal challenges by a woman who has a panic room in her home, and the grandparents of a 15-year-old who requires overnight care. The removal in 2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-316500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
Government Loses Court Of Appeal Cases - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Government Loses Court Of Appeal Cases - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"[ad_1] The Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called bedroom tax discriminates against a domestic violence victim and the family of a disabled teenager. The ruling followed legal challenges by a woman who has a panic room in her home, and the grandparents of a 15-year-old who requires overnight care. The removal in 2013 […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/\",\"name\":\"Government Loses Court Of Appeal Cases - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-27T19:42:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-27T19:42:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Government Loses Court Of Appeal Cases - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Government Loses Court Of Appeal Cases - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"[ad_1] The Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called bedroom tax discriminates against a domestic violence victim and the family of a disabled teenager. The ruling followed legal challenges by a woman who has a panic room in her home, and the grandparents of a 15-year-old who requires overnight care. The removal in 2013 […]","twitter_image":"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/","name":"Government Loses Court Of Appeal Cases - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-27T19:42:54+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-27T19:42:54+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/01\/27\/government-loses-court-of-appeal-cases\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Government](\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Government-Loses-Court-Of-Appeal-Cases.jpg\")
<\/div>\n