CORRESPONDENT G Blenkinsop urges Alison Huggan to make a few simple economies to make up for the housing benefit she will lose from next April (HAS, Dec 3).

Mrs Huggan fears her sons, who are both serving soldiers, will have nowhere to sleep when they come home.

I agree with Mr Blenkinsop that everyone would expect Ms Huggan’s sons to contribute to enable her to retain her home, but the point is that not everyone in the same predicament will have family who can help.

Moving is traumatic and expensive. If Mr Blenkinsop has ever moved house he will know it always means new carpets, curtains and often new furniture especially if you downsize as very little fits.

Then there is the emotional upheaval of leaving a home you have been happy in and leaving neighbours who are friends you can rely on in a crisis.

It seems to me it is decisions made for other people by people who know they will never be in that situation and have no empathy to imagine what it feels like.

S Pope, Durham.