Islanders urged to apply for bedroom tax refund

ISLANDERS affected by the bedroom tax in Shetland will be able to claim for a discretionary housing payment (DHP) to cover the full cost of the unpopular levy.

On Friday letters went out to all households whose housing benefit payments were reduced owing to under-occupancy.

Householders are asked to sign a short application form attached to the letter to claim payment.

Shetland Islands Council has now received enough funding from the UK and Scottish governments to award the extra payment backdated to 1 April.

Housing benefit recipients in the isles lost a total of £115,000 as a result of this element of the welfare reforms.

The SIC was granted £72,457 from the UK government to mitigate some of the impact of the bedroom tax.

This has now been topped up by a further £107,593 from the Scottish government, giving rise to the hope that some of the Scottish money could be held over to help householders during the next financial year.

The council’s revenue and benefits team leader, Andrew Hall, urged people to sign the letter and send it back in the pre-paid envelope as the money can only be released when applied for.

“This afternoon we sent out letters to ‘encourage’ folk to apply. The letter and form are pre-populated with the claimants details, so all they have to do is write ‘yes’ in the box and sign the form,” he said.

Announcing £20 million of extra funding from the Scottish government on Thursday, housing minister Margaret Burgess said the money should go some way to help alleviate the welfare cuts.

“We are determined to do everything we can to help mitigate welfare cuts, including the bedroom tax. And this funding will make a real difference to people across Scotland.

“We also recognise the huge financial pressures that have been placed upon authorities by welfare reform, this is why we have made available an additional £20 million to be distributed across every local authority,” she said.