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Stifled report reveals bed tax victims sacrificed essentials

A GOVERNMENT report showing that tenants have sacrificed household essentials to pay the hated bedroom tax was smuggled out yesterday under the cover of the Cabinet reshuffle.

Con-Dem spin doctors exploited the press frenzy to publish the damning verdict.

It revealed that 80 per cent of the 660,000 tenants hit by the housing benefit cut have scraped together the cash to keep the bailiffs at bay.

Just 4.5 per cent of tenants have moved to a smaller property.

The report, penned after a consultation with tenants, found that 57 per cent had cut back on “household essentials” to afford the £14-a-week fine.

“There was widespread concern that those who were paying were making cuts to other household essentials or incurring other debts in order to pay the rent,” it states.

A quarter of affected tenants said they had borrowed money, mostly from family and friends, to pay the tax.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the report “lays bare the damage wreaked by the bedroom tax.

“The bedroom tax is one of the most pointlessly cruel welfare policies instigated by a government that remains determined to take away the safety net that so many rely upon.

“It is shameful that ministers are now trying to hush-up the damage it’s causing.”

Grilled on social media about their attempted cover-up, a government spokesperson claimed: “Reshuffle hasn’t distracted Department for Work and Pensions from day-to-day work: reducing poverty and improving social justice. It’s another working day.”

While many families fighting to stay in their home have so far found the cash to cope with the housing benefit cut, the number of tenants in arrears has soared.

Debt owed to social housing landlords shot up by 16 per cent since the bedroom tax was imposed by Tory Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith in April.

“Landlords state that they will eventually evict non-payers,” the report warned.

“Many landlords expressed concern that collecting rent from people who can’t afford to pay while in their current circumstances is damaging relations between landlords and tenants.”

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