UNCOVERED: TORY PLANS TO INTRODUCE A ‘BEDROOM TAX’ FOR OLD AGE PENSIONERS IN NORTHUMBERLAND

‘Tory plans to hit OAP’s with new bedroom tax will slash pensioner incomes and in some cases force pensioners to move homes’ – Scott Dickinson, Cllr for Druridge Bay

Some of the most vulnerable pensioners in Northumberland could be hit by a ‘secret’ Tory plan to label their homes ‘under occupied’ and charge them up to £300 per year. The plan has been branded a ‘OAP’s Bedroom Tax’ and is set for introduction as part of the government’s new ‘welfare reform’ bill.

Northumberland Labour have identified ‘hundreds of potential losers’ across Northumberland if the policy gets the go ahead and it could see some pensioners across the wider region lose up to £1700 per year.

Age UK have already started to campaign to stop the measures which have been described as ‘as vicious as the bedroom tax’ by Frank Field MP. Age UK have explained that the policy will cause ‘anxiety and distress and will create hardship for many of the pensioners hit by the proposed policy.

Cllr Dickinson said

‘Northumberland Tories have a campaign ‘say no to everything’ but this is one policy they should say no to. This is a blatant attack on pensioners who’ve worked hard throughout their lives and now face a vicious attack on their incomes by a Tory government that is fast eroding the gains pensioners made through 13 years of a Labour government. It’s time that Northumberland Tories said no to a policy which will make Northumberland’s pensioners worse off and in some cases, force them to move from their homes’.