Welfare reform will always be painful. With the current generally harsher economic circumstances our societies tolerance for others on benefits has reduced.

One of the proposals is that no family claiming benefits will be able to claim more than the average family income for the country – £25,000 pa.

In East Dulwich this will impact 11 families claiming benefits. Each of these families are predicted to lose on average £3,887. If you’re one of those families please do get in touch if you need extra help or support.

Another aspect of welfare reform is around council houses where the occupants claim housing benefits (where the government pays the rent) and have spare bedrooms. They’ll see a reduction in housing benefit. The idea is that while we have families in bed and breakfast without proper homes we shouldn’t be fully subsidising under occupation of council housing. Their will be circumstance where this feels harsh but it must feel even harsher trying to raise families in bed and breakfast accommodation for long periods of time.

In East Dulwich this is predicted to affect 91 homes where 1 bedroom is spare and the tenants claim housing benefit and another 43 homes where 2 or more bedrooms are spare and the tenants claim housing benefit. Some years ago when the Lib Dems led the council we had schemes to encourage such occupiers to move to smaller council homes. Hopefully this scheme will become more popular to smooth people moving to smaller homes where appropriate.

If these changes affect you and you think you need those spare bedrooms please get in touch so we can try and help you fight for a sensible solution. It might be due to home dialysis, a son or daughter being in the armed forces. Whatever it is we want to try and help.