• If you have a bedroom you don’t need, your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit might go down. This is called the ‘bedroom tax’.
• The rules say:
• If you have 1 spare room, your benefit goes down by 14%.
• If you have 2 or more spare rooms, it goes down by 25%.

To work out how much less you’ll get:

1. Divide your weekly rent by 100.
2. Multiply that number by 14 or 25 (depending on how many spare rooms you have).

Example:

• If your rent is £120 a week:
• 1 spare room: £120 ÷ 100 = 1.2 → 1.2 × 14 = £16.80 less per week
• 2 spare rooms: 1.2 × 25 = £30 less per week

If this makes it hard to pay your rent, you can ask for extra help called a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP). This is short-term help to give you time to sort things out.

You can apply for a DHP from Tendring District Council here:
👉 Discretionary Housing Payments – Tendring District Council - Tendring District Council | Discretionary Housing Payments(tendringdc.gov.uk)