Housing benefit criteria found to discriminate against disabled children
Lauren Higgs
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
A landmark legal judgment has branded current housing benefit rules discriminatory against disabled children.?
The Court of Appeal came to the unanimous decision that criteria used to determine how much housing benefit can be paid to a family renting in the private sector is prejudicial to disabled children.
The judgment, which relates to the case of a family with two disabled children versus Wiltshire Council and the Department for Work and Pension’s, found that failure to take account of the children’s additional needs breached British human rights law.
This is because the existing rules do not allow for the costs of an additional room, where a disabled child’s condition means they are unable to share a bedroom with a sibling.
Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, which represented the family in the case, said the ruling is "a tremendous victory" for the rights of disabled people and their children.
“In this case it was clearly not possible for two children, one with Spina Bifida and another with Down Syndrome, to share a bedroom with such different demands and needs," she said.
"It’s absolutely right that the housing benefit system should respond to challenges like this, and it is clear discrimination if it does not."
The disabled children’s charity Contact a Family is now calling on the government to change the Local Housing Allowance rules so that the cost of an extra bedroom is covered when a child cannot share with a sibling, or when a disabled child needs overnight care from a professional brought in from outside the household.
Srabani Sen, chief executive of Contact a Family, warned that the current system is placing families at risk of losing their homes.
“Families with disabled children often need an extra bedroom because their disabled child cannot share with their sibling,” she said.
“For example they may require frequent or prolonged attention during the night which would be disruptive to a brother or sister’s sleep and therefore wellbeing.
“Many families in private rented accommodation are having to meet a shortfall in housing benefit to pay for their vital extra bedroom, increasing their chances of getting into rent arrears. We call on the government to act quickly and change these unfair and discriminatory rules.”