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The Court of Appeal has held that for the purposes of Regulation B13(5) Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, a bedroom is a room which is objectively capable of being used as a bedroom by any of the listed categories of person in the regulation.
The SoS for Work and Pensions appeal was allowed, the Upper Tribunal had erred in imposing a requirement that the room be capable of being used as a bedroom by the particular claimant.
the word "bedroom" should be interpreted as meaning a room capable of being used as a "bedroom" by any of the listed categories and not a room capable of being used as a "bedroom" by the particular claimant. In holding that the correct interpretation was a room capable of being used as a "bedroom" by the particular claimant, the UT erred in law and its decision was wrong.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Hockley, 2019 EWCA Civ 1080
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