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North Wales councils spent nearly £1m bailing out tenants hit by the bedroom tax last year, new figures have revealed.

And five of the six North Wales councils paid about £100,000 in total from their own coffers to make up a shortfall in money the Government allocates to meet costs.

The bedroom tax restricts the amount of housing benefit council and housing association tenants can claim if councils decide tenants have spare bedrooms.

Councils can give discretionary housing payments to tenants who cannot afford to pay their rent for reasons including the bedroom tax.

Each year the Department of Work and Pensions allocates funds to local authorities to meet the cost.

By far the largest spend was by Gwynedd Council, which paid about £570,000 over 2014/15 on discretionary housing payments - the Government allocated £560,000.

Flintshire Council spent nearly £149,000 last year - £30,000 more than the £120,000 the Government gave.

The amount represents an increase of 13% compared to the £132,000 the authority spent in 2013-14, the biggest rise for any Welsh local authority.

Particularly Pressing In Wales

Meanwhile Wrexham councillors spent about £160,000 in 2014/15 with a Government allocation of £150,000.

For Conwy Council around £90,000 was handed out, after a £60,000 allocation. Anglesey councillors spent about £80,000 after the Government contributed £60,000.

Denbighshire spent no money in 2014/15 on discretionary housing payments according to the figures.

The situation is particularly pressing in Wales where the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show there was more than a 40% increase in discretionary housing payments because of the bedroom tax.

In 2013-14 councils in Wales spent £3.1m compared to £4.4m in 2014-15.

The 2014-15 amount was also well over the figure allocated for people affected by the tax.

Central government had allocated £4.2m for this purpose, meaning councils in Wales were forced to spend more than £200,000 over their allocations.

Wrexham Council said they had no comment to make on how much they spent, while the remaining five authorities failed to respond to the Daily Post.