Bedroom Tax

[marje]

So, there's been a suicide because of the 'bedroom tax'. Poor woman couldn't afford the £80 per month for 2 empty bedrooms when her children left home. How many more before it's abolished?

[Zeuhl]

It appears she was offered another, smaller home but felt it was too far from her friends

It is rather harsh to suddenly 'move the goalposts' on people especially when they are elderly - this woman will have expected to see out her days in that house just as thousands did before her

The new Benefit rules make sense but if they aren't introduced with sensitivity towards people's individual situations and common sense they are not fulfilling their fundamental purpose

[woofgang]

Once again what about the families who are in b and b and desperate for a roof over their heads? I absolutely agree that this has been badly handled but surely benefits are to provide what people need?

I used to encounter this regularly when i worked in the NHS. People in (mostly privately owned) accommodation sometimes dangerously unsuitable for their needs who couldn't possibly move because they had lived there for so long. I used to say that if I was prime minister i would make EVERYBODY move every five years so that people would get some perspective about what is only, at the end of the day, a pile of bricks.

I remember one woman who had decided that her disabled husband, who she loved dearly would live in a shed (okay summerhouse) in the garden because she couldn't move and there was nowhere in the house to give him a downstairs room (spiral staircase so stairlift or through floor lift not possible).

(ducks down behind big wall and puts on tin hat)

[ummmm]

Yes MadMen...and our breaking point comes down to mental health.

[sebhfhion]

sharingan //there are a few things I would potentially consider taking my life over if the circumstances were right //

oh my goodness thats terrible, you are a young girl with the whole of your life in front of you,I hope you are just saying that for effect otherwise i would be suggesting you go talk to someone about your feelings. Think how your family would feel if you killed yourself.

[Ric.ror]

She was 53 - that is not elderly

[Sharingan]

Thank you Ricror- I should point out before going on that I am a very happy person and not considering suicide at all, so please don't worry. I do however have quite a calm view of life and death I think and I know in advance of it happening that there are some scenarios where I would prefer to die rather then to live under those circumstances. That does not make me mentally ill, it simply means that I view death as a part of life and that I consider that I have a right to choose either at all times.
As such I also view that everyone else does as well. I'm quite offended that anyone could view that as mental illness or a ' mental issue'.

[anneasquith]

oh, I disagree ric, I can think of situations where I would not wish to live anymore.

[Zeuhl]

/Think how your family would feel if you killed yourself. /

Maybe seeing her entire family murdered in front of her is one of the 'few things' that would potentially cause sharingan to take her own life

[marje]

I know it's not officially a tax, but that's how most people know it. Anyway, it's quite apparent that there will be differing opinions about this woman's suicide, everyone's entitled to their opinion after all. However, this payment for having spare bedrooms is totally wrong. Where on earth are the people affected by this supposed to go?

[Ric.ror]

Anne - not when your 15 like Sharigan

[ummmm]

Making an informed choice is completely different to someone who commits suicide because they can't cope.

Shar, you may find your opinion changes the older you get.

[Sharingan]

Sebhifion, noooo :) I'm not at all unhappy and suicidal, in fact I love life, but I do think I have a clear perspective of my reaction to certain scenarios and I don't feel that makes me mentally ill.

[Zeuhl]

/She was 53/

Blimey is that all!

Perhaps she was without personal 'resources' (in the broadest sense of the word)

[Ric.ror]

Zeuhl - maybe that would but, as far as I know (and hope) that has not happened to either Sharigan

[anneasquith]

ric, age does not come into it. it would be the situation that would be so intolerable to continue living,

[Octavius]

Well I hope the lorry driver and other witnesses are not suffering from mental health issues now.

[magsmay]

I agree with Ummmmmm 100% -thoughts of suicide, however brief, are signs of mental health issues -not necessarily major mental health problems -just reflecting certain thought processes that if not addressed can evolve into bigger issues. This woman was obviously unstable before any changes in benefits but this must have been the last straw-its a pity she could not have spoken to her Son and tried to sort out her finances.

[Sharingan]

Can you all please read carefully what I have said. I am not suicidal, upset, worried or otherwise contemplating self harm or taking my own life. Please stop worrying. I think I have a very healthy attitude to life and death, but I do not agree that anyone who kills themselves is mentally ill, sometimes they are, sometimes they are not.

[MadMen]

"Yes MadMen...and our breaking point comes down to mental health. "

Say someone loses their child, or their husband, and makes a decision they no longer wish to live their life without them. That doesn't mean that person has mental health issues, surely?

[poppy006]

Hi jim,my daughter is going through the exact same experience of having to find this TAX and the response from her council is both slow and unfruitful...