Published: 16th January 2025
The High Court has ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) acted unlawfully by presenting benefit assessment reforms as a way to support disabled people into work, without making clear that cost savings was a “primary rationale” for the proposals.
The judge also found that the consultation failed to explain that planned reforms would lead to 424,000 disabled people receiving lower benefit rates and that many would be worse off by at least £416.19 per month. The consultation, which ran for just under 8 weeks before the cost-saving changes were announced in the Autumn Statement, was also unlawfully short given the circumstances.
PLP client Ellen Clifford faced the DWP in court on the 10th and 11th December 2024 over the consultation held in 2023 on these proposed changes to the Work Capability Assessment. The DWP uses this assessment to evaluate whether Deaf and Disabled people are eligible for the health component of Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance.
Read Public Law Project’s full article HERE