The bedroom tax (spare-room subsidy)

Suburban houses Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

A row of houses Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

A maisonette block Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The bedroom tax is the common name for the removal of the spare-room subsidy in social housing. If you are of working age, rent from a council or housing association, and have more bedrooms than your household needs, your eligible rent is reduced before Housing Benefit is calculated. It is not a separate tax bill. It is a reduction in the rent figure that Housing Benefit is based on, and the shortfall lands on you.

The reductions

GOV.UK states the reductions plainly: 14% of eligible rent for one spare bedroom, and 25% of eligible rent for two or more spare bedrooms. GOV.UK's example is worth repeating because it shows the order of operations. With eligible rent of £100 a week and one spare bedroom, the eligible rent is reduced by 14% to £86 a week, and Housing Benefit is calculated using that £86 figure. Scale that up and the effect is large: on eligible rent of £150 a week, one spare bedroom removes £21 a week, and two spare bedrooms remove £37.50 a week, before the means test is even applied.

How many bedrooms your household needs

Bedroom need is worked out by who is expected to share and who gets a room of their own. An adult couple is expected to share. Two children under 16 of the same sex are expected to share, and two children under 10 are expected to share regardless of sex. A single adult aged 16 or over gets a bedroom of their own, as does a child who would normally share where the shared bedrooms are already taken, for example where there are three children and two already share. A couple or children who cannot share because of a disability or medical condition can each have a bedroom, and an overnight carer who does not live with you but sometimes has to stay overnight can have a bedroom too. Rooms used by students and members of the armed or reserve forces do not count as spare if they are away and intend to return home.

Extra bedrooms that are allowed

One spare bedroom is allowed for an approved foster carer who is between placements, but only for up to 52 weeks from the end of the last placement, and for a newly approved foster carer for up to 52 weeks from approval if no child is placed with them during that time. A couple who cannot share because of a disability, and children who cannot share for the same reason, are assessed on the bedrooms they actually need rather than on a sharing assumption. If your household includes any of these situations, make sure the council has the evidence for it, because the default calculation will not assume it.

Who is not affected

The bedroom tax applies to working-age social tenants. Pension-age households are generally not affected: where a couple includes someone over Pension Credit age, the rules treat the household differently, and Shelter's guidance notes that most pension-age people do not pay the bedroom tax, with a mixed-age Universal Credit exception that does not change the Housing Benefit position for pension-age claimants. Shared ownership homes, mobile home sites, temporary homeless accommodation and supported exempt accommodation are also outside the spare-room rules. Private tenants are not affected by the bedroom tax at all: their cap is Local Housing Allowance, which is a different rule on a different page of this site.

What to do about a shortfall

If the bedroom tax leaves you short, the options are practical rather than legal. Ask your council about a Discretionary Housing Payment, which can top up the shortfall for a period. Ask about a transfer or mutual exchange to a smaller property, and check whether the council's allocation policy gives priority to households affected by under-occupation. Take in a lodger only after checking that a lodger's income, as a non-dependant, does not reduce your award by more than the rent they pay, and after checking your tenancy allows it. And if you believe the bedroom count itself is wrong, for example because a room is not a bedroom or a sharing assumption does not fit your household, challenge the decision through the revision and appeal route, with the tenancy agreement and household evidence attached.

A room's use does not decide it. A spare bedroom counts as spare even if you use it, even if someone sleeps in it occasionally, and even if it holds your belongings. What matters is the number of bedrooms in the property against the number your household is assessed as needing. Arguing that a room is a study or a storeroom does not remove it from the count unless the room genuinely is not a bedroom under the tenancy and the council accepts that.

General information only. This page explains Housing Benefit in plain English. It is not legal, financial, or benefits advice, and it cannot decide whether you qualify. Only your local council can decide a claim. Rates and rules change over time, so always confirm the current position with GOV.UK or your council before you act on it. Contact: hello [at] tapetoolhq.com.