Armed services and foster carers exempted from housing changes.

Members of the armed forces and foster carers are to be exempted from controversial changes to housing benefits.

The proposed change will base the housing benefit payable on the housing need of the family, rather than on the size of the property they occupy.

Pensioners were already exempt from the change, and a fund, administered by local authorities, has been set up to provide assistance in special cases - for example, it is intended that any family with disabled children whose disability means that they need extra space should be able to obtain assistance from that fund.

Most of the legitimate concerns about the changes to housing benefit, inaccurately labelled the "bedroom tax" by the Labour party, have now been addressed.

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