Housing Benefit (HB) subsidies could be axed for councils which have sought to get around the so-called 'bedroom tax' by re-designating their properties without also cutting rents, welfare ministers have warned.
In a letter sent to all council chief executives last week, welfare minister Lord Freud states where local authorities have reduced the number of rooms without reasonable grounds and without reducing rents, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could either restrict or not make HB payments.
