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MORE than three quarters of council tenants hit by the bedroom tax in one local authority in Scotland are now in rent arrears.

East Ayrshire Council finance director Alex McPhee said arrears had increased more than threefold since the tax was introduced in April.

And he said that if it continues over the rest of this year, the authority will lose £500,000 in rent.

McPhee said: "There are 2300 individuals in our council houses who have been impacted by the bedroom tax. At April 1, 500 of them had some level of rent arrears. By May 17, 1700 of them have some level of rent arrears."

McPhee was one of a number of senior council officials who yesterday described the impact of benefit cuts to Holyrood's Local Government and Regeneration Committee.

The MSPs heard that changes to the welfare system could lead to a rise in domestic abuse, children going hungry and homelessness.

Dumfries and Galloway Council chief executive Gavin Stevenson said that replacing housing benefit, which is paid to landlords, with the new universal credit, paid to individuals, may result in more domestic violence and homelessness.

Stevenson said that not everyone affected by the bedroom tax – which deducts housing benefit from those deemed to have spare rooms in their home – faces poverty.

But he called for more time to weed out those who can pay but will not pay and focus on those who are genuinely struggling.

Stevenson added: "The real issue about welfare reform is the impact it would have perhaps in rises in domestic violence if we start paying money back to men in families and individuals, rather than landlords, and potential rises in debt homelessness.

"In health, it's great to see communities pulling together and gathering food parcels. But if you look at what's in the food parcels, it's tins of spaghetti. In 10 years, we will be increasing obesity, so there's something about being able to channel money into preventative work and healthy eating.

"Also, there's an issue of children turning up hungry to school as families are making different choices.

"Not every person affected by the bedroom tax cannot afford to pay it. At the moment, we need to get over the hump of what is the can-pay-won't-pay element of that and then see where it settles down. Our job is to get time to see who are the real vulnerable that are really struggling with this so we can target our resources.

"I would have asked the Government in Westminster to have given an extra year to have worked with individuals and families on how to manage their finances better, rather than the short, sharp shock."

Inverclyde Council finance director Alan Puckrin said the welfare reforms would have a huge impact on households and individuals, with a knock-on impact to the local economy and rent arrears.

He added: "Long term, there's going to be huge pressure on social housing and if there is a long-term reduction in rental income, that's going to impact on investment and the impact is likely to be in the social care side of things if people don't react well to the reductions in funding."

On Saturday, more than 1000 people took to the streets of George Square, Glasgow, to join the Daily Record-backed protest against the hated bedroom tax, which is hitting disabled particularly badly.

Another demo is planned for the Scottish Tory Party conference in Stirling on Saturday.