A woman called Stephanie Bottrill has written a letter to her family to say she blamed the government's controversial bedroom tax for her death.

 

A woman who committed suicide left a note blaming the Government's so-called bedroom tax for her death.

 

Stephanie Bottrill, who killed herself earlier this month, wrote in her final letter: "I don't [blame]anyone for me death expect [sic] the government."

 

Her son Steven, 27, said she was struggling to cope after being told to pay £20-a-week extra for two under-occupied bedrooms at her home in Solihull.

 

He told the Sunday People: "I couldn't believe it. She said not to blame ourselves, it was the Government and what they were doing that caused her to do it.

 

"She was fine before this bedroom tax. It was dreamt up in London, by people living in offices and big houses. They have no idea the effect it has on people like my mum."

 

Ms Bottrill died 10 days ago. She was 53.

 

In the days running up to her death she had told neighbours: "I can't afford to live any more."

 

Describing her case as a "tragedy", shadow chancellor Ed Balls told Sky News' Murnaghan programme the bedroom tax was "driving people to the edge of despair in their many thousands across the country".

 

Solihull Council Labour group leader David Jamieson, who knows the family, said: "I'm absolutely appalled this poor lady has taken her own life because she was worried how she would pay the bedroom tax.

 

"I hope the Government will sit up and take notice and reconsider this policy."

 

The bedroom tax means people of a working age in social housing who have a spare bedroom will find housing benefit claims reduced by £40 to £80 a month.

 

Ms Bottrill had lived in her £320-a-month home for 18 years as she raised her son and daughter, but she could not cope with the extra £80 she had to find every month.

 

 

Mr Bottrill said his mother wanted to work, but there was no way she could.

 

As a child she was diagnosed with the auto-immune system deficiency, Myasthenia gravis.

 

The illness made her weak and she had to take constant medication.

 

Doctors had told her she was too ill to hold down a job, but she had never been registered as disabled, so she lived without disability benefit.

 

Neighbour Rosie Hough, who used to see Ms Bottrill every day, told Sky News: "She did say some things about her problems about the rent and that, and having to find the extra money and that but I would have never have said that she was a woman who would take her own life.

 

"It's absolutely shocked the whole street. We just can't comprehend that she has gone."

 

Brian McCann, who lives a few doors away from Ms Bottrill's home, said: "We knew that the tax had affected her because the girls had all chatted in the street and she was really worried about it."

 

Sky's Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said: "Downing Street isn't commenting on what it says is a personal matter but clearly this will lead to calls for the policy to be changed.

 

"Downing Street knows it is controversial. That's why some amendments have been made to the policy already, saying armed services personnel and foster carers won't be affected.

 

"Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has argued consistently that he thinks this policy is a fair one, but certainly I think this row is going to keep going."

 

The Samaritans said that "although a catalyst may appear to be obvious, suicide is never the result of a single factor or event and is likely to have several inter-related causes".

 

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or CALM on 0800 58 58 58.

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1089813/bedroom-...-womans-suicide

 

So this is a pretty shocking and upsetting story. But do you want the government to change their policy of a Bedroom Tax or carry it on (the answer might seem painfully obvious but I don't like being biased)?

Edited May 12, 201312 yr by Griff

What an an absolutely atrociously written article.

What an an absolutely atrociously written article.

 

It was the first one I found on the internet and I thought that it gave the back story quite well. I apologise if you think I should have chosen a better one.

I've made my views on this clear before.

The bedroom tax is possibly the nastiest and least thought-through piece of legislation passed by this government. Any change to the benefits system will mean that there are winners and losers and that there are anomalies. This policy creates so many bad examples that it should have been ditched long before it got anywhere near the statute book.

 

Let's just give one example. Let's say a couple have split up and that they have three children, two boys and a girl and that the mother keeps the family home while the father moves into social housing. Assume that he currently has a two-bedroomed flat and that, when the children come to stay, the boys use his bedroom, the girl uses the spare bedroom and he sleeps on the sofa. Now he faces a choice between paying the bedroom tax or moving into a one-bedroom flat (if he can find one) meaning that he can no longer have all three children staying with him at the same time. How does that fit in with the government's supposed desire for both parents to get roughly equal access in most cases?

The bedroom tax is possibly the nastiest and least thought-through piece of legislation passed by this government. Any change to the benefits system will mean that there are winners and losers and that there are anomalies. This policy creates so many bad examples that it should have been ditched long before it got anywhere near the statute book.

 

Let's just give one example. Let's say a couple have split up and that they have three children, two boys and a girl and that the mother keeps the family home while the father moves into social housing. Assume that he currently has a two-bedroomed flat and that, when the children come to stay, the boys use his bedroom, the girl uses the spare bedroom and he sleeps on the sofa. Now he faces a choice between paying the bedroom tax or moving into a one-bedroom flat (if he can find one) meaning that he can no longer have all three children staying with him at the same time. How does that fit in with the government's supposed desire for both parents to get roughly equal access in most cases?

 

Some aspects of the bedroom tax have been ill thought out and the death of this lady is a tragedy (although I do wonder if there were other issues in her life and this simply sent her over the edge) but I support the general principle of the bedroom tax.

 

The waiting list for housing is astronomical, record levels, so can it be justified that there are people living in state subsidised housing that is bigger than their actual needs when so many people are on waiting lists? no IMHO.

 

Clauses should be bought in to protect certain situations (like the one above) but the principle of the bedroom tax is a good one.

Waiting lists being incredibly long mean you either build more houses or allow those occupying the existing houses to die. I know which I'd rather.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/fe...ion-bedroom-tax

 

Arrogance of this bunch of tossers knows no bounds. Get your housing benefit cut by 25% or... well, that's it. Because there's nowhere else to go.

 

But it's fine because Little England knows best, and the rest of the world is run by Marxists.

I don't believe she killed herself just because of the bedroom tax. She must have been depressed too. She should have been on sickness benefits though.

Edited February 3, 201411 yr by Common Sense

According to the headline of the daily record today, it's been scrapped this side of the border with the SNP providing the funding to undo the damage done by this awful tax

Waiting lists being incredibly long mean you either build more houses or allow those occupying the existing houses to die. I know which I'd rather.

 

 

Why should Housing Benefit pay for a couple to have 2 or 3 bedrooms, say when he kids have left home? Unless there are exceptional circumstances they can either move to a 1 bedroom or fork out the difference in rent. The HB pot isn't bottomless you know! I fully agree with the Bedroom Tax. It's not new either, just has a new name. When we moved down to London in 1994 we only needed two bedrooms, one for us and one for daughter. We CHOSE to rent a 3 bedroom house though, for when guests came down, say my parents. We lost about £15 pw HB for "underoccupation" but didn't mind. People think this has recently come in but councils were deducting money yonks ago.

Edited February 8, 201411 yr by Common Sense

Why should Housing Benefit pay for a couple to have 2 or 3 bedrooms, say when he kids have left home? Unless there are exceptional circumstances they can either move to a 1 bedroom or fork out the difference in rent. The HB pot isn't bottomless you know! I fully agree with the Bedroom Tax. It's not new either, just has a new name. When we moved down to London in 1994 we only needed two bedrooms, one for us and one for daughter. We CHOSE to rent a 3 bedroom house though, for when guests came down, say my parents. We lost about £15 pw HB for "underoccupation" but didn't mind. People think this has recently come in but councils were deducting money yonks ago.

But in many areas of the country there are very few one bedroom properties available and the ones that do exist are often more expensive than larger properties. The net saving from the bedroom tax is tiny so the claim that it is about reducing the deficit is a blatant lie.

Why should Housing Benefit pay for a couple to have 2 or 3 bedrooms, say when he kids have left home? Unless there are exceptional circumstances they can either move to a 1 bedroom or fork out the difference in rent. The HB pot isn't bottomless you know! I fully agree with the Bedroom Tax. It's not new either, just has a new name. When we moved down to London in 1994 we only needed two bedrooms, one for us and one for daughter. We CHOSE to rent a 3 bedroom house though, for when guests came down, say my parents. We lost about £15 pw HB for "underoccupation" but didn't mind. People think this has recently come in but councils were deducting money yonks ago.

You've completely missed my point. There aren't any houses, and you can't tell someone to move into a fictional one bedroom place or they get their benefits slashed. If more houses were built we wouldn't be spending anywhere near as much on HB.

You've completely missed my point. There aren't any houses, and you can't tell someone to move into a fictional one bedroom place or they get their benefits slashed. If more houses were built we wouldn't be spending anywhere near as much on HB.

 

 

Well they should be made to take in a Council approved lodger then to pay some of the rent! :)

Well they should be made to take in a Council approved lodger then to pay some of the rent! :)

And spend how much on setting up a "Council Lodger" system, employing staff and vetting candidates?

The bedroom tax is vile... having to pay for unused bedrooms is just insensitive and ridiculous.