Equality, human rights, welfare reforms & Bedroom Tax – Joining up the dots

Anthony Robinson Solicitor, Barrister, Mediator

Scott Moncrieff & Associates Ltd & Human Rights & Equality Consultancy

I will be speaking about: • My journey here • The structure of, & approach to discrimination and

human rights law • Housing as one of the most fundamental human rights • The context to the debate – the assault on rights under

cover of austerity • Looking at austerity measures, the welfare reforms &

challenges to human rights • The Bedroom Tax case • Looking across the horizon • Conclusions

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The structure of & approach to discrimination

and human rights law

The three tracked approach and structure • The rights of individuals to bring proceedings re

discrimination and infringement of human rights • A credible independent enforcement agency with

the powers and resources to assist individuals to challenge abuses of rights

• An independent & authoritative enforcement agency with the powers and resources to promote, regulate & protect discrimination and human rights in its own name

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Dismantlement of individual rights • Taking the axe to Legal Aid

• Contracting & competitive tendering of Legal Aid – the Eddie Stobart model

• Putting up barriers to prevent access to the courts & tribunals

• Restricting the freedom of judges in the ET to make wider recommendations

• Stripping out some of the rights in the Equality Act 2010

• Undermining the PSED

• Attacking the Human Rights Act

• Retrenching on employment rights

• Increasing to 2 years the qualifying period for statutory protection

• Confidential termination negotiations

• Capping compensation levels

• Limiting the scope of Health Safety law

• Neutering the EHRC – the guard dog with dentures

• The death of independent advice agencies

• Demonising foreigners

• Outsourcing the state as a way of evading the law & responsibility

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Assaults on the Equality Act 2010 • Socio economic duty abandoned

• Dual discrimination provisions removed

• Power of Minister to require employers with 250 + employees to publish

information about gender pay gap not brought into effect

• Questionnaire procedure withdrawn

• Third party harassment not proceeded with

• Power of ET to make wider recommendations

• Re-introduction of 2 year qualifying period for unfair dismissal and statutory

redundancy

• Removing the right of employees to bring civil actions for breach of health &

safety regulations

• Introduction of “employee owner contracts” without employment rights

• Abolition of Agricultural Wages Board

• Deregulatory approach has led to a move to “Voluntary, business-driven

organisation based initiatives provide an insecure basis for a general improvement in

the position of women and indeed other groups who are disadvantage on the labour

market” (Prof Linda Dickens, Wainwright Trust Lecture 2012)

s

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The dog that lost its bite- the sad tale of the demise of the EHRC

• Budget cuts 72% (£70m to £20m) and counting • Staff cuts 72% (600 – 150 by 2014) • End to grants programme • Equalities Mediation Scheme terminated • People with Reduced Mobility Complaints Scheme/Air

Travel Accessibility Scheme moved to CAA and “softened” • Helpline privatised to Equality Advisory Support Service • Repeal of s3 general duty on EHRC • Closure of regional offices • Leadership • Status of National Human Rights Institution under threat • Removal of good relations obligations on the EHRC

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Housing as a fundamental human right

“The human right to adequate housing is the right of every woman, man, youth and child to gain and sustain a safe and secure home and community in which to live in peace and dignity”.

The right to adequate housing as defined by General Comment No. 4 of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

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International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICESCR

The essentials of the right to housing:

• Legal security of tenure

• Availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure

• Affordability

• Habitability

• Accessibility

• Location, and

• Cultural adequacy

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CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 2009

Article 34 Social security and social assistance

“In order to combat social exclusion and poverty, the Union recognises and respects the right to social and housing assistance so as to ensure a decent existence for all those who lack sufficient resources, in accordance with the rules laid down by Community law and national laws and practices.”

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Governmental drivers

• Appease the business lobby • Appease the anti-EU lobby • Appease the anti-rights lobby • Appease the right wing media • Appease the neo-liberal free marketers who want

greater deregulation and freedom for business to do whatever they want

• Reduce costs to the taxpayer • Reduce the size and role of the state • Privatisation of state functions

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Welfare Reforms Savings

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Benefits Savings

Changes to Tax Credits £5,275 million

Changes to Housing Benefit for renters in the private sector: £1,640 million

Increases in the deductions taken from Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit in respect of other adults living at the property

£130 million

The restriction of contributory Employment and Support Allowance to one year for claimants in the

“Work Related Activity Group”

£1,600 million

The replacement of Disability Living Allowance with Personal Independence Payment £1,350 million

The abolition of Council Tax Benefit and replacing it with locally determined Council Tax Support

schemes

£355 million

The introduction of Bedroom Tax £465

The introduction of a cap on total benefit receipt for most households where no adult is in work of

£500 for families or £350 a week for single people

£185 million

The uprating of benefits and tax credits by 1 per cent instead the Consumer Price Index £2,680 million

The introduction of Universal Credit replacing the main means tested benefits with a single benefit

paid to the head of the household

£1,600 million

Tapering of Child Benefits £2,525 million

The reduction in the uprating of Child Benefit to 1 per cent £360 million

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The impacts 1 The local impacts of welfare reform – An assessment of cumulative impacts and mitigations (LGA & CESI) August 2013 -

• Income of households on benefits on average lower £1,615 a year £13 a week

• At local authority level average impacts relatively evenly spread except London where losses are £1,500-£1,650 per year + Average loss in London £1,965

• Overall 45 % households of “working age” receive the main state benefits

• The 10% of areas with the lowest proportions of households on benefit overwhelmingly in outer London and the south east

• Highest % on benefits: north west, north east, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber

• Impacts of reforms likely to be most strongly felt in areas with the highest dependence on benefit – the north east, Lancashire, central north west, Birmingham, Black Country, parts of London and a swathe of costal towns including: Thanet, Tendring, Great Yarmouth, Scarborough, Plymouth and Torbay

• 59 % of all welfare reform reductions fall on households where somebody works

• In 314 out of 325 local authorities the reductions for working households is greater when compared to the reductions for households where no one works

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The impacts 2 • Data from 107 local authorities shows 86,000 households have been forced to

look for one-bedroom homes, of which only 33,000 have become available in the past year. (False Economy)

• More than 50,000 people in local authority housing affected by the so-called bedroom tax have fallen behind on rent and face eviction,

• At least another 30,000 people living in housing association properties have also fallen behind on rent payments since the bedroom tax came in (National Housing Federation)

• A survey of 51 housing associations around England, carried out by the National Housing Federation, found that 51% (32,432) of residents affected by the bedroom tax have been unable to pay their rent between April and June.

• A quarter (25%) of those affected by the tax are in rent arrears for the first time, according to a smaller sample of 38 housing associations.

• Earlier research by the National Housing Federation also shows that many families who try to downsize to avoid the tax will be stuck where they are due to a shortage of smaller homes - and will still be charged the penalty. In March, the Federation estimated that although 180,000 households were under-occupying two bedroom social homes, only 85,000 one-bed social homes became available in 2011-12.(3)

• - See more at: http://www.housing.org.uk/media/press-releases/more-than-half-of-families-hit-by-bedroom-tax-pushed-into-debt#sthash.TsvtcVQw.dpuf

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Managing the impacts 1

Local authorities are adopting a range of strategies to support claimants to manage and respond to the impacts

• Targeted information campaigns to raise awareness

• Personal support to manage finances, avoid arrears and make choices

• Financial assistance – drawing in particular on Discretionary Housing Payments

• Joint working and signposting to prepare people and support them in looking for and finding work

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Managing the impacts 2

• Research suggests the responses so far: relatively few looking for work and even fewer having success in finding it, and little evidence of claimants moving to more affordable accommodation

• A large majority of the impacts of reforms affecting housing costs for households out of work are unlikely to be met through claimants finding work or moving home

• At least 4 out of 5 are likely to need further assistance to deal with the impacts

• Trade union research quoted in the press

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The bedroom tax case • MA & Ors, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for

Work and Pensions & Ors [2013] EWHC 2213 (QB) (30 July 2013)

• The background & decision. The grounds of the challenge: – Unlawful discrimination contrary to Art 14 ECHR – Violation of the PSED s149 Equality Act 2010 – The Secretary of State has unlawfully deployed guidance

Circular HB/CTB U2/2013, to prescribe the means of calculating the appropriate maximum HB and that can only be done by secondary legislation; and in any event the guidance cannot cure the discriminatory effects of the Regulations.

• The court found in favour of the Secretary of State and upheld the Bedroom Tax

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The impacts of the case

• The impact of the case on the welfare reforms • The implications for social housing providers • Some further challenges • The UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, Raquel

Rolnick stated: “The state has an obligation to put in place safeguards to protect the most vulnerable. And what I am seeing here is quite the opposite: the most vulnerable are having to pay for these cuts. The country is going backwards in the protection and promotion of the human right to housing".

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How does inequality affect us? • Bigger status differences: status becomes more

important • Status competition increases • Increased insecurities about appearances, how we

are seen, “social evaluation anxieties” • More downward social prejudice, stigmatisation of

the poor • More discrimination against vulnerable minorities

and women • Lower levels of trust and community life • More violence

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Scanning the horizon to see where the dots lead to • National politics: the – the election campaign has begun – the

death of equality? – Labour – Silence – race – the injustice that “dares not speak its name”

– Conservative –

• Equalities: “too much red tape” & “leave it to individuals to do the right thing”, “have had enough of Harman’s Equality Act”

• Race: Ad vans campaign & focusing the debate on immigration and entitlement of migrants

• Attack on human rights and blame everything on the HRA

– Liberal – beginning to think about the issues but not sure whether it will follow through

– & others – far right agenda gaining greater currency

• International politics • The continuing rise of global capitalism • The global hegemony of Neo-Liberal ideology

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Summary & conclusions • Dismantlement of rights under cover of austerity

• Divide, mislead & mis-rule

• Seeing where the dots lead

• Housing as the means to all rights

• The role of social housing providers is changing and calls for creativity, commitment and greater solidarity between providers

• We can & we will fight back

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Anthony Robinson

• uk.linkedin.com/in/anthonylynwallrobinson/

• Scott-Moncrieff & Associates Ltd solicitors

Contact: larobinson@scomo.com http://www.scomo.com/

• Human Rights & Equality Consultancy

Contact: anthony@humanrightsandequality.com

http://www.humanrightsandequality.com/home/

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Resources for joining up the dots General resources & useful organisations:

• Human Rights & Equality Consultancy: www.humanrightsandequality.com

• Scott-Moncrieff & Associates (SCOMO): www.scomo.com

• National Housing Federation: www.housing.org.uk

• Chartered Institute of Housing: www.cih.org

• Housing & Diversity Network: www.housingdiversitynetwork.co.uk

• ACAS: www.acas.org.uk

• British Institute of Human Rights: www.bihr.org.uk

• Disability Law Service: http://www.dls.org.uk

• Equality & Human Rights Commission: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com

• Liberty: www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk

• Justice: http://www.justice.gov.uk

• The Equal Rights Trust: http://www.equalrightstrust.org

• The Equality Trust: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk

• Race Equality Foundation: http://www.raceequalityfoundation.org.uk

• Rights of Women: http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/

• Runnymede Trust: http://www.runnymedetrust.org

• Law Centres Network: http:// www.lawcentres.org.uk

• Legal Action Group: http://www.lag.org.uk/

• False Economy: www.falseeconomy.org.uk

• Local Government Association: www.local.gov.uk

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Resources for joining up the dots Alternative news & information sources: • The National Memo: www.nationalmemo.com • Reader Supported News:

www.readersupportednews.org • Think Progress: www. thinkprogress.org • Truthout: http://www.truth-out.org • Rolling Stone Magazine (Political section):

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics • TomDispatch: http://www.tomdispatch.com/ • Daily Censored: http://www.dailycensored.com

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