In R (Roberts) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2025] EWHC 51 (Admin) (16 January 2025) the High Court (Fordham J) decides that the Government’s policy on making deductions from benefit claimants’ Universal Credit is unlawful. It is unlawful because at present the scheme unfairly prevents claimants from making representations, before deductions start, about whether deductions should actually be taken from their benefit for alleged rent arrears.
As a result of the judgment, the way that the DWP makes deductions of this type will need to change: all Universal Credit claimants, including those in social sector housing, should be given the opportunity to make representations prior to a decision to make a deduction from their benefit to their landlord.
This judgment follows on from the earlier Court of Appeal judgment in which the DWP’s ‘third party deductions’ policy, relating to how deductions from employment and support allowance (a ‘legacy’ benefit) were paid to third parties such as utility companies, was found to be similarly unlawful.
