Charities welcome bedroom tax move

Measures to mitigate the so-called bedroom tax and other welfare reforms have been welcomed by voluntary organisations and charities.
Shelter Scotland, which is leading a Banish the Bedroom Tax campaign, said the £20 million of funding to help local authorities increase discretionary housing payments this year is a victory for those affected.

“We are delighted that the Scottish Government has listened to Shelter Scotland’s campaign and is making £20 million available to help thousands more households in Scotland affected by the so-called bedroom tax,” the charity’s director Graeme Brown said.

“We hope that local authorities across Scotland will act quickly to top up their discretionary housing payments budget so that the maximum number of people this year can be helped.”

Citizens Advice Scotland chief executive Margaret Lynch said the organisation is also pleased that ministers listened to calls for help.

But she warned: “Such support must not seen as exceptional, or a one-off. The scale of the welfare crisis is huge, and even more support is needed.”

Elsewhere, funding for colleges was well received by both further education institutions and the organisation representing their students.

John Henderson, chief executive of Colleges Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government made a commitment to maintain colleges’ cash funding earlier this year and we are very pleased that this has been incorporated into the draft Budget for 2014-15.

“We also welcome the additional resources that are being allocated to the college sector for 2015-16. We look forward to engaging with the Government on how we can use these resources in areas such as expanding school and college partnerships.”

Gordon Maloney, president of National Union of Students Scotland, said: “Protecting college budgets next year, and increasing them by £4 million the year after, will be a relief to students and young people across Scotland.

“Equally, increasing university budgets next year, and protecting that for 2015, keeps the Scottish Government’s promise on closing the funding gap between Scottish and English universities. However, we can’t ignore that these are still below-inflation increases.”

“However, we do still have even greater concerns around student support. The new student support system for higher education is a huge improvement but with the cost of living increasing, we must make sure support increases with inflation.

“For further education students in college, we need to see real-terms protection and reform. And for postgraduate students, we need to improve support to ensure your talent, not your bank balance, is the key factor in your education.”

Trade unions criticised measures to increase pay for public sector workers earning less than £21,000, saying that it is not enough.

Public and Commercial Services Scottish secretary Lynn Henderson said: “Far from a budget for independence, this is a policy of guaranteed dependence on credit cards and payday loans for low-paid public sector workers as wages don’t stretch to match prices for everyday cost of living.”

Mike Kirby, Scottish secretary of Unison, said: “Government is about choice and John Swinney has chosen to maintain ‘the most generous system of business rates relief anywhere in the UK’ while the vast bulk of people working in our vital public services will see their wages lose value.”