Emma Harrison, Assistant Director of External Relations at Mencap says:

Mencap welcomes the part of today's ruling requiring the government to put disabled childrens' right to an extra bedroom into regulation. However, adult couples with a learning disability, many of whom have additional physical and health needs, will be left struggling to understand how the court can recognise childrens' needs but not the needs of adults in the same situation, who need a bedroom of their own for reasons relating to their disability.

We welcome the campaigners’ determination to take the issue to the Court of Appeal and hope it will recognise how the ‘bedroom tax’ discriminates against disabled adults as well as children.

Also today the government has announced a further £30 million of discretionary housing payments. This is a sticking plaster that will not stop families hit by the bedroom tax from being plunged into poverty, with the government's own estimates showing 420,000 disabled people will be hit.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact the Mencap press office on 020 7696 5414 or media@mencap.org.uk.

About Mencap

There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability, their families and carers by fighting to change laws, improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities. Mencap supports thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.

For advice and information about learning disability and Mencap services in your area, contact Mencap Direct on 0808 808 1111 (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) or email helpline@mencap.org.uk.

What is a learning disability?

A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities – for example household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole life.

People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complex information and interact with other people. The level of support someone needs depends on individual factors, including the severity of their learning disability.

Learning disability is not a mental illness. The term learning difficulty is often incorrectly used interchangeably with learning disability.