The DWP argued that the Mr Richard Gorry, who has three daughters, including two daughters who are disabled, should only receive housing benefit based on a three bedroom property. Mr Gorry appealed the decision stating that his children could not share rooms due to their additional needs. One of his daughters has spina bifida and the other has Down Syndrome.
The work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith applied to the Supreme Court to appeal the decision on 25 May 2012. However, he has decided that he will no longer be pursuing the appeal.
Mr Gorry was represented by children’s charity Child Poverty Action Group (CGAP).
Alison Garnham, chief executive of CGAP, said, ‘This is a tremendous victory for disabled children and it’s a victory for common sense. In the case Child Poverty Action Group represented, it was clearly not possible for a child with spina bifida and another with Down Syndrome to share a bedroom together with such different demands and needs. It is absolutely right that the housing benefit system should respond to challenges like this, and it is clear discrimination if it does not.
Even with today’s decision on severely disabled children, disabled people will still be the hardest hit by the bedroom tax, with £300 million being cut from their housing support. The bedroom tax is surely one of the cruellest cuts of all and should be scrapped altogether.’
A DWP spokesperson said, ‘We have issued new guidance to local authorities to inform them that a family will keep their spare room subsidy where their child’s disability means they cannot share a bedroom.’
Iain Duncan Smith has also announced a partial U-turn in the policy just three weeks before it was due to come into force. Some families with children with severe disabilities will be exempt as well as foster carers, and parents of teenage armed forces personnel, who continue to live at home.
From April 2013 the Government will restrict the amount of benefits a person can claim for each bedroom if they are renting their home. The claim will be based on the number of people living in the household. The aim of the tax is to try and free up family homes for those who need them.
- View the full case here: http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/gorry-v-secretary-state-work-and-pensions
