The Government has closed the bedroom tax 'loophole' with effect from 3 March 2014.
On 8 January 2014 the DWP admitted that an oversight when drafting bedroom tax legislation meant that housing benefit regulations dating from 1996 had not been correctly updated.
This loophole meant that social housing tenants who have lived in their property since at least the 1 January 1996 and have been continuously entitled to housing benefit since that date were exempt from the bedroom tax.
You can view the regulations removing this loophole at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/212/made
For more information on the loophole and the exceptions to the bedroom tax see our Factsheet F57 - the bedroom tax.