MORE than 8,000 people in Derbyshire, including 2,300 in Derby, are seeing their benefits hit by the so-called bedroom tax, new statistics have revealed.
The information has emerged from an analysis of Government figures by The National Housing Federation.
It has found that 2,303 Derby households are seeing their weekly housing benefit cut as a result of the Government's under-occupancy charge, losing an average of £746.65 a year.
Elsewhere in the county 804 lose out in Amber Valley, 735 in Erewash, 1,131 in North-East Derbyshire, 1,099 in Chesterfield, 828 in Bolsover, 408 in South Derbyshire, 391 in High Peak, and 337 in Derbyshire Dales.
The total in the East Midlands was 35,000.
The under-occupancy charge, introduced by the Coalition Government, is designed to encourage people to downsize and so free up empty bedrooms.
But it has come under fire due, for example, to the lack of smaller properties available for people to move into.
And the housing federation says 25,200 people in the East Midlands affected by the charge are disabled.
The National Housing Federation's East Midlands external affairs manager, Kate Warburton, said:
"These new Government figures show that the bedroom tax is affecting thousands of people in the East Midlands – for many, there isn't even anywhere for them to downsize to.
"There simply aren't enough smaller social homes available, and the cost of private rented housing is rising all the time.
"The Government says discretionary housing payments will help those who cannot downsize, but there isn't anywhere near enough money to go round.
"The bedroom tax is trapping many people in homes they can no longer afford and where they are struggling to pay their rents. It is unfair, badly designed, and must be repealed."
