A BLIND woman has been made homeless after being denied help to pay the bedroom tax, her local councillor said yesterday.

Carol Sutherland, who had been living in her Lincolnshire home for over 30 years, was evicted this April.

Labour councillor Jackie Kirk, who has been supporting Ms Sutherland, told the Star that the 56-year-old was given no help to cover the cost or even fill out the forms.

Unable to read the warning letters  or to apply for disability benefits, Ms Sutherland was left with a £210 bill for what the Tories call “under-occupancy charges.”

Her councillor said: “She’s been losing her sight for a considerable number of years.

“She’s been attempting to pay her bills and feed herself rather than trying to pay the council the bedroom tax of £11 a week.

“She’d have been living on £10 a week to cover everything else if she’d paid back what the Nottingham District Council was wanting her to pay.”

The Lincolnshire Echo reported that Ms Sutherland had been forced to sleep in a makeshift den in a field with only straw for a bed.

She has moved into accommodation provided by a charity after local churchgoers found her sleeping rough.

Her only income has been her deceased husband’s county council pension of £70 a month.

Ms Kirk said accepting the bedroom tax “would actually not have left her with any money to survive on.”

Once at the shelter Ms Sutherland was given the help needed to apply to the personal independence payment benefit and for a new home.

But authorities have been inconclusive on when she would be able to find a property.

“The problem being with the bedroom tax is that there is not enough single one-bedroom accommodation available for the sheer volume of people that are needing it,” warned Ms Kirk.

“You have a percentage of people who are just not able to because the properties are not there.”

The Star attempted to contact Ms Sutherland’s MP — Conservative Karl McCartney — with no success.

Ms Kirk said: “I don’t actually think he knows about it.”

joanaramiro@peoples-press.com