Those who were affected by the loophole and received refunds are now being written to by the City Council, explaining that as from 3 March they will have to revert back to receiving the same housing benefit as before the loophole was discovered.
Before Christmas, the City Council confirmed that it had identified 31 cases where people should not have been subject to the tax due to an error by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
The error affected working age tenants in social housing who had occupied the same home and been in receipt of housing benefit continuously since 1996. An oversight by the DWP when drafting up the legislation meant that the housing benefit regulations dating from 1996 were not updated when the government implemented the 'Bedroom Tax'.
Cllr Rob Hannaford, Lead Councillor for Housing and Customer Access, said: "Although we were good to our word and paid out the refunds, the error has now been rectified by the DWP and the appropriate legislation laid before Parliament. If anyone in Exeter has problems with debt as a result of this and any other issues I would urge them to come and talk to one of our customer advisors."
