Room for one more

SIR – Pam Maybury is right (Letters, July 11). We should not encourage the elderly to downsize. Indeed, a spare room can be a solution to loneliness as well as providing some income.

The Government’s rent a room scheme allows owner-occupiers to let out furnished accommodation to a lodger in their main home and earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free.

Moira Brodie

Bourton, Wiltshire