Scottish drive to build a case against the bedroom tax

"Even if I did move somewhere smaller, this house wouldn't be suitable for anyone else. And they'd have to adapt another house for me."

Mrs Martin was left reliant on a wheelchair, after surgery related to her osteoporosis went wrong.

She also needs a hoist, a commode and other equipment, as well as space for carers who look after her.

Although she has extra rooms in her home, she cannot access them herself and they are used for storing equipment and clothes, or for carers who sleep over. She would like to see the government policy challenged in the courts.

Capability Scotland also thinks the Government's controversial welfare reform doesn't make sense.

Director Richard Hamer is convinced the bedroom tax policy can be reversed, because even right wing acquaintances can't see the rationale behind it, he claims.

"People don't understand the bedroom tax. They think it is daft," he says. "I think the argument against it is a winnable one."

Capability Scotland is one of the organisations looking to bring forward legal challenges to the measure - which sees housing benefit payments cut to people deemed to be underoccupying their homes.

Claims that the government reform disproportionately affects disabled people appeared to be borne out figures published by the Scottish Government and Cosla showing 80% of the households affected contain a disabled person.

Mr Hamer believes that is a strong indicator the bedroom tax is indeed discriminatory, and he thinks the actual figure could be even higher.

"The Scottish Government admitted it could only look at figures where the tenant or a partner is disabled. There may be children involved but they are likely to be hidden," he explains.

"We need to see if we can get ab etter idea of that. If it was more like 90% of households having a disabled person living in them, it would look even stronger as a legal discrimination case.

"It would also affect public perceptions. People don't think it is right that disabled people are being hit, and that counts even more if it is disabled children."

The recent defeat of a discrimination case in the High Court in England was a setback for campaigners but was immediately followed by claims that a Scottish charity might bring new cases against the welfare reform.

Capability aims to do that, but a Scottish test case is not imminent, Mr Hamer says.

"We are looking at whether there is a different Scottish element which might make a legal challenge easier. Social housing in Scotland is very different from in England for example, but there is more work to be done.

"It is about how best we can go about dismantling it."

This approach involves finding legal support - Capability is currengly working to set up legal partnerships which might help people affected bring cases. It involves getting the right cases, and doing statistical and other ground work, he says.

One example is the Papworth Trust, which found that two out of three disabled people were not getting the discretionary housing payments (DHPs) which the government argues - and the High Court ruled - help mitigate any discriminatory effect from the bedroom tax.

This pot of funding was set up by the coalition government to allow local councils to help people who appear to face significant hardship as a result of the benefit reform. It is becoming a significant target for those looking to demonstrate the bedromo tax is unfair.

"We want to repeat the Trust's work in Scotland," Mr Hamer says.

The DHP pot is also illogical, he warns. "These changes are replacing a rigorously well-controlled housing benefit system with a DHP budget which is essentially an enormous slush fund. It is not good governance," he says.

There is also an economic case to be made against the benefit change, which may be slowly pushing up rents, he says.

This is because housing associations face poorer credit deals from lenders cautious about rising numbers of tenants in arrears. "The Government may find that its beautiful saving will gradually get eroded."

Meanwhile as Capability Scotland lines up its ducks, others are also looking at possible cases.

Disabled housing benefit claimants have already achieved success by challenging DHPs in Glasgow,

Mr and Mrs H, claimed it was discriminatory that their disability living allowance payments were taken into account when assessing whether they were entitled to payments to compensate for the bedroom tax.

The council agreed to revisit its decision, so the challenge was never tested.

Bill Scott, manager of Inclusion Scotland, said: "This would have been a really important decision if it had gone to court. We think the council is reviewing its approach because it didn't want the case to reach court and establish a precedent."

DLA shouldn't be taken into acocunt for housing costs, because it is a benefit designed specifically to take into account the additional costs which arise from being disabled, Mr Scott argues.

It is plainly discriminatory, he says, if people who do not receive a benefit designed to help with a disability are more likely to get assistance with the effects of the bedroom tax than those who do.

"Different councils have different criteria for DHPs, some are taking DLA into account and others are not.

"It is also not right that it seems to be a postcode lottery, and there is an element of it that seems to depend on how much fuss you kick up."

This is a concern Janice Martin echoes.

Her case was taken up by Tom Clarke, Labour MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill.

After the introduction of the bedroom tax, she gradually began to accumulate rent arrears, an experience she says she could do nothing about and which she says was terrifying.

After media coverage in which she described how the financial pressure had driven her to the brink of suicide, she was eventually told that the council recognised her need for additional space and her housing benefit was restored.

"I have been very fortunate," she says. "People have said I was silly but it is no exaggeration to say I was suicidal."

At one stage she was sitting in the bedroom with pills in her hand before a phone call stopped her, she says. "I couldn't see a way out of the situation."

I would be glad to see legal challenges to the bedroom tax. I believe very strongly it is discriminatory.

"There are millions of people out of there who don't have a voice. I was lucky, but other people don't know how to go about challenging this or don't have the wherewithal to do that.

"I understand the benefits system has to change, but they are targeting disabled people because they are vulnerable. Something definitely has to be done."