Residents in the North of England continue to be hit hardest by the so-called ‘bedroom tax', a national survey conducted by three major council housing organisations has revealed.

Numbers of people nationally affected by the spare-room subsidy and falling in arrears are on the decrease, findings from  a joint survey conducted by bodies representing more than 1.3 million council properties - the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA), the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) and the Councils with ALMOs Group (CWAG) - indicated.

But the research showed people in the North were more than twice as likely (13%) than their countperparts in the south (5%) to be affected by the spare room subsidy reform, and also more than three times likely to be in rent arrears, 7% compared with 2%.