the under-occupancy penalty, introduced in 2013 and commonly known as the "bedroom tax", affected an estimated 660,000 working age social housing tenants in the uk, reducing weekly incomes by £12–£22. almost two thirds of the people affected by the penalty were disabled. the measure reduced the expenditure of the department for work and pensions by approximately £500 million per year. in 2015, george osborne announced that tenants in social housing would have their housing benefit limited to lha rates (used for private-sector tenants) from 2019, though theresa may announced in 2017 that this policy had been scrapped.