The Point

Last updated: 27 June 2022.

Scrap the Bedroom Tax… Fighting Back at a Grassroots Level

Karen Hendry is a single parent from Cumnock in East Ayrshire. Karen has never been aligned to any political organisation but angered at the injustice of the Con/Dems Bedroom Tax she first got angry, then got active in her home town and set up a local group fighting back against the tax. Known locally as, “the bedroom tax lassie”, Karen has recently graduated with a BA (Hons) in Social Policy and Sociology from the University of the West of Scotland.

Karen (on the left) with her daughter at a protest against the Bedroom Tax in George Square, Glasgow

 

When I first heard the murmurings of a housing benefit reduction my initial thoughts were “surely this is just one of these stupid ideas the government wheels out when they are bored”?

How wrong was I! A wee bit of research through government documents unearthed something that to me, was just wrong in every sense for a modern society.

 

Reading through consultations, impact assessments and various government papers I watched this monster emerge and then the worry started.

First person I thought of was my mum, single disabled unemployed woman, your average tory hate campaign target and with her 2 spare rooms regardless of the fact that the house she was in was my gran and papa’s rented for over 20 years and one that had been adapted to suit my gran and papa who both relied on my mum being their carer so they wouldn’t be a burden on the state, and the fact they had held a council tenancy since they moved from the miners rows when they were condemned when my mum was 3 years old meaning they had paid rent for over 50 years.

Her 2 spare bedrooms being upstairs and inaccessible, needed if she was ill and needed myself to stay or for her grandchild to stay when I was working like most single parents working strange hours that child minders don’t accept and just for a normal family life.

The suggestions such as move to smaller accommodation, (no use as all the houses in her areas are 3 bedrooms built as family homes in the glory days of council housing) unless its sheltered housing which she qualified for as she is disabled but at 61 years old certainly not ready for that!

That’s not to mention the stress and cost of a move and losing valuable support networks provided by her neighbours who make sure she is ok and have my contact details to get in touch with me in an emergency and also a door key.

The more I thought into this the more people began to spring into mind, people around me, family, friends and neighbours.

Another one was a girl near me same as myself lone parent but claiming housing benefit as her wages were low due to part time work. She had stayed at home with her parents till her boy was 3 and she had saved enough money to furnish a house spent 3 grand making her first home for her and her kid to then face a reduction which was going to hit her already limited income.

The more I spoke to people the worse this situation got, our wee community has never recovered from deindustrialisation, the loss of the factories and pits, we are officially classed as high levels of social deprivation and unemployment and lack of opportunities but we have one thing that has stood the test of time, fighting spirit.

I was a member of a lot of anti-bedroom tax pages on Facebook and from these gleaned a lot of information and good connections and decided the time was right to get our community organised.

I attended a meeting in Irvine organised by the SSP and came out that meeting both angry and inspired. I’m not political never have been a member of any party or had an interest in politics my concern is what is happening in my area and the wider area and the impact of what was happening and more importantly, how we can all join up and fight these attacks by a tory government all issues to the side and focus on the fight against them.

First came the Facebook page Cumnock and surrounding areas against the bedroom tax. This page took off in a big way, with people joining and telling their stories. Never underestimate social media for reaching a lot of people quickly! From this it was decided that a local meeting was needed and the organising of this was really easy. A hall a table some speakers and we were good to go! Advertising the meeting again social media but also on the local papers Facebook page mean that word was spreading. The paper called me and we had a chat and they ran a great feature on bedroom tax and still do most weeks as the impact of it deepens.

Emails were sent to local councillors and msp and MP. Word began to spread and more people were getting in contact with me and this was before the impact was truly being felt.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, with some people saying the matter shouldn’t become political and there was no place for the msp/ MP, my point around this was that as a society matter then it was a political one and these people had to be made aware of what was happening to their constituents and that people were not prepared to take this lying down and that they had their place at the meeting but it was not going to be a party political broadcast on behalf of xyz.

I made a serious underestimation of the amount of people who were going to attend meeting, I had estimated possibly 20 or 30 at most and ended up with over 100 people. We had to be moved over to the community hall (thanks to local councillor) and we had a very mixed bunch of people from the older generation to younger, male, female, disabled, able bodied but all with the one agreement that this tax was wrong and that we would not be lying down as a community. One thing that really struck me was the majority of people in the hall weren’t directly affected by the bedroom tax but came out in solidarity and in the fight against the Tories and their evil policies.

From the meeting it was decided to affiliate with the wider Scottish anti bedroom tax federation for the simple fact more little groups joining up means more power and information sharing is available and better networking means we can be more organised.

 

 

The next step was the decision to get the discretionary forms and appeal forms up and running and days were organised in the local community centre to assist people in filling these out. I supplied the forms, envelopes and stamps from money that was donated on night of the meeting as ink paper etc. costs! I also enlisted the help of my friend to fill out forms etc., you have resources around you, use them is my advice to any community organiser you don’t need an special educational qualification or that just use what you have and network with people either online or through bigger groups like the federation etc.

In our communities there is a good mix of people each one with their own talent and knowledge, use these! Individuals or whether its community groups such as citizens advice or people who work in social care, many of them have clients who are affected and they can be a valuable source of information. We joined up with our local credit union to promote both the groups.

Keeping awareness of the issue in the community I do by Facebook, twitter, emails and letter and also by speaking to people when I’m out and about. A lot of people contact me or forward people to me who are needing advice or sometimes just a wee chat when the stress and worry is getting too much or if there needing a hand access forms or fill them in.

Being known as “ the bedroom tax lassie” might not be the most impressive title to some, but to me it means that my community knows me and what I do and in turn I know that I can rely on my community to join together and help each other to fight the Tories and their attacks, the community that stands together fights together and even if at times it feels like you’re the only one doing something the people backing you and supporting you are there just they aren’t always seen but if you are helping one person then you’re doing good!