Highland Council has agreed not to evict council tenants who cannot pay rent due to their loss of benefit through the "bedroom tax".

People living in socially rented houses who are not using one bedroom will have housing benefit reduced by 14% and those under-occupying by more than one room will have benefit reduced by 25%.

About 2200, or 16%, of Highland Council tenants will be hit by this change. The council will have to collect extra rent payments of £1.158 million from tenants which would otherwise have been paid through housing benefit.

A report from officials said discretionary housing payments could be applied for those affected, however the funding available of £216,000 for the whole Highland area would clearly not meet the loss of benefit.

One-year tenants, who have lost benefit due to under-occupancy and are in arrears, will not be evicted if they prove they are doing all they reasonably can to avoid falling into arrears.

Drew Hendry the leader of the SNP/LibDem Labour coalition at the Council, said: "We know that in the Highland Council area there are no less than 86 communities where there is no option of tenants moving to a one bed-room house. So it is a very live problem and not one of the people's making. It puts them at considerable risk."

Alistair Christie, the Inverness Li Dem councillor, said the bedroom tax would go down in history in the same way as the poll tax in its lack of fairness.