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I can see the reasons and the need for this change and it is a problem that needs addressing.
This is not the right way.
It is a fact that there are tenants living 2/3 bedroom houses that could be moved to smaller dwellings but it needs to be and could be, implemented in a far better way than this badly thought out bedroom tax.
All council tenants are now completely on their own, at the mercy of the internet, thanks to another very unfair and ill-conceived move by DDC(I think), to distance themselves from allocating or transferring tenants, who want to downsize or upsize.
This has been going on for years now but just imaging how important this is going to be, now that some tenants who want to downsize or will agree to downsize, will contact the council only to be told "if you want to move, you have to go on the internet and do it yourself"?
I don't think I need to point out that the very people who might agree to move, will not, because of this obstacle.
For instance, my own Mother & Father lived nearly all of their married life in their council house in the same street that I now live in. Later on in life they would never have given up their home, not even when they both became ill. Until I became their carer and looked into finding out if there were any vacant adapted properties for them to move to.
I found one and persuaded them to take a look and they liked it so much, they could not wait to move in and they were very happy.
Not everyone has carers or family or even if they have, that does not mean that they would bother with trying to get a move on this internet system, or they simply do not have a computer and cannot access it.
So a status quo has been reached on getting this problem sorted, thanks to this internet system, in my view.
This could be the right way.
Obviously a team has been set up to recover rent arrears that are going to be incurred due to these bedroom cuts.
When I spoke to these people and asked to downsize, I was told that they could not help me and that I would have to do it myself on the internet.
Instead of burdening these genuine tenants with increases they cannot afford, why not use this team to help those who want to move to smaller premises, providing that is their wish?
Many tenant's living in 3 bedroom houses, will not move until they have been shown a suitable place for them to move to.
Cutting benefits and telling them to go on the internet if they want to downsize, will not solve this problem.