These changes include an "under-occupancy penalty" which reduces the amount of benefit paid to claimants in social housing if they are deemed to have too much living space in the property they are renting.

[5] Advocating the Act, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) stated that the changes would reduce welfare dependency and support working families.

[13] A number of exemptions apply to the rule:; carers of disabled tenants who need to stay overnight are permitted to have one extra bedroom.

Families in receipt of working tax credits are exempt from the cap, as are pensioners and claimants of certain other disability benefits (including Personal Independence Payment and Attendance Allowance).

It was introduced gradually into the rest of the UK; at first, from 15 April 2013 it only applied in the London boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey, but reached the whole of Great Britain by the end of September 2013.

Payments are varied according to the severity of disability as decided by the tests and relate to ability to carry out daily living activities and level mobility.

[16][17] The Act was introduced by the Government of David Cameron as part of the programme of austerity with the aim of reducing the amount of welfare spending in the United Kingdom.

Detractors have widely referred to the penalty as a "bedroom tax", while government advocates of the scheme have used the term "spare room subsidy".

[24] Critics of the new benefit rules have commented on situations where tenants who are affected by the under-occupancy penalty will be forced to move to smaller properties to avoid losing money, and have drawn attention to a shortage of housing.

According to the Scottish Labour Party, an estimated 78,000 tenants across Scotland will be expected to move into one-bedroom accommodation while only 20,000 single-occupancy social housing properties are available.

[25] According to the then-leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband, an estimated 5000 people in Kingston upon Hull are to be affected by penalties, but only seventy three council properties are available in the city.

[27] His statement in the interview that it was possible to live on £53 per week attracted considerable media attention; he made the claim in response to a complaint by a member of the public in a telephone interview, who stated that he was supplementing his low income as a market trader with state benefits and claimed that, after benefit cuts, he would have to live on £53 per week.

The group claimed that the effects of the welfare reforms did not take into account the accommodation needs of disabled people and that it was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

[35] In Scotland, there were two major demonstrations on 30 March 2013 against the changes to welfare: Participants in the protests include the Scottish Socialist Party and the Radical Independence Campaign.

[37] On Monday, 22 July 2013, a man in Runcorn benefits advice office cut his own throat in protest of the bedroom tax.