A disabled woman told she should share a bedroom with her ex-husband is the latest person to win an appeal against the so-called bedroom tax.
Fifer Jessie Aitken has uncontrolled epilepsy and can suffer from seizures at any time of the day or night.
However, when her former husband Geoff moved back to the marital home in Kirkcaldy as her carer, Fife Council ruled he was not entitled to a separate bedroom and imposed a 25% cut in her housing benefit.
Jessie, 47, said the local authority refused to believe the couple who split up three and a half years ago were not living as man and wife and considered they should sleep together.
This was despite the fact the council’s own social work department kitted out Jessie’s room with a special alarm that would go off in Geoff’s bedroom to alert him when she had a seizure.
After an independent tribunal in Kirkcaldy in January, a judge has now ruled Geoff is Jessie’s main carer and should have a room of his own.
He also accepted that Jessie’s third bedroom was used by a rota of family members who stay over at weekends to offer respite to Geoff.
Jessie has welcomed the tribunal’s ruling, stating she had endured a year of extreme stress that had almost destroyed her.
“For almost 10 years I have tried to get a smaller house and have asked the council for swaps but have been refused every time,” she said.
“When Geoff moved back we tried to get a two-bedroom house and the kids could have slept in his room at weekends.
“This has all been very distressing. During the appeal my epilepsy was very bad and I was in and out of hospital.”
She added: “I’m glad it’s all over. There’s not so much stress on me now and I can get on with my life.”
Maureen Closs from the Fife Anti Bedroom Tax Campaign, which initially advised Jessie, said it had been obvious from the start the council had got it wrong.
“They refused to back down and the result was a year of anxiety for Jessie and her family, us having to refer Jessie on to Fife Law Centre for representation at tribunal, which is funded by Fife Council, Fife Council’s costs in defending the case at tribunal and the cost to the state of holding the tribunal all completely unnecessary, in our view,” Maureen said.
“We are happy that, at last, there has been justice for Jessie and hope for the same for all the other tenants out there who have had the ‘bedroom tax’ foisted on them unlawfully.”
Fife Council leader David Ross said the local authority did not accept some of the campaign’s assertions but added he could not comment on Jessie’s individual case other than to say it was complex.
“I can confirm that the council will not be submitting an appeal in this case but will be asking the tribunal to provide more information so that we are clear about the reasons for their decision,” he said.
“The council believes that the ‘bedroom tax’ is unfair and unworkable and should be scrapped.
“This is another illustration of the confusion surrounding this measure and the worry and concern it is causing to individual tenants.”