Applications to Hardship Fund Surge By 300%

English councils received more than 13,272 extra applications for an emergency hardship fund in the first month of the bedroom tax.  An exclusive survey of 102 English councils lays bare the full extent of this surge in demand for help.  Councils received 17,673 applications in April, compared with 4,401 in April 2012 - a whopping fourfold (302 per cent) increase. The figures, obtained by Inside Housing under the Freedom of Information Act, are likely to renew fears that the £150 million DHP pot will not be enough to help people worst affected by the under-occupation penalty and wider welfare reforms.  Read more on Inside Housing.