DHPs and the Bedroom Tax

There is another demo against the Bedroom Tax in Nottingham tomorrow (albeit one arranged in an extremely unsatisfactory manner via an off the cuff announcement by some SWP apparatchik at the Peoples Assembly but hey ho).

The last one attracted a few NCC councillors, including Graham Chapman the Deputy Leader. They have been very vocal in their own opposition to the BT, even going as far as organising a petition against it. So are we to assume that they are doing everything they can to alleviate its effects?

Not quite. This year NCC's allocation for Discretionary Housing Payments is just over £696k. However, councils have the power to pay out up to a maximum of 2.5 times their government allocation, making up the rest from their own coffers. Nottingham could therefore pay out up to £1.74m. That extra million would help quite a few more people avoid homelessness.

However, from published decisions, it seems clear that NCC is only willing to splash out the central government money, no more.

So tomorrow, when you see Chapman and his pals shedding crocodile tears about the sheer awfulness of it all, remember our council has CHOSEN not to spend all it can to help those facing one of the most oppressive welfare policies for years.