In a decision dated 27 April, the High Court granted claimants of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) permission to challenge the Department for Work and Pensions decision not to increase their benefit in line with Universal Credit.
What is behind the announcement?
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £20 per week increase to the standard allowance of Universal Credit, but this was not extended to those on so called ‘legacy benefits’, which includes ESA.
Who is affected by the current rules?
Currently only families and individuals in receipt of Universal Credit are entitled to the temporary £20 per week uplift which is due to end in December.
According to solicitors at Osborne’s Law, the legal firm supporting the claimants, 1.9 million people on ESA have been without this increase during the pandemic
Those entitled other “legacy benefits” including Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Housing Benefits, Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits were also not granted the same increase in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Universal Credit is slowly replacing “legacy benefits” but the process will not be complete until 2024 at the earliest.
Why is it being challenged?
Two recipients of ESA have challenged this difference in treatment and have been granted a judicial review.
They argue that it is discriminatory and unjustified and the High Court has agreed it is arguably unlawful.
Lawyers for the pair argue that the rules must be changed because despite people in receipt of ESA having an equivalent entitlement to the standard allowance of Universal Credit, they are not entitled to the uplift “simply because they were in a different part of the system”.
When will the challenge take place?
The High Court will decide the case later this year.
The claimants have asked for the trial to be heard before the end of July 2021, Osborne’s Law has said.
How has the sector responded?
Save the Children UK’s, head of child poverty, Becca Lyon, said: “We are delighted to hear that the decision not to extend the £20 uplift to legacy benefit claimants will be challenged in the courts. The £20 uplift has been a vital helping hand to families on low incomes through the pandemic, and it is fundamentally unjust that families claiming legacy benefits are missing out. These families are just as much in need of support and have so far been left to struggle through this crisis with no additional help.
“All families deserve the security of being able to provide food for their children and pay for rent, bills and essential items. The UK government must make sure that the social security system works for all those who need it, and extend the uplift to families on legacy benefits.”
Hundreds of thousands of disabled people on legacy benefits have been denied the increased payments that those on #UniversalCredit have received.
— Scope (@scope) April 29, 2021
We've challenged this decision throughout the pandemic, and we’re glad to see this being taken to the High Court. #WontBeForgotten https://t.co/h9N58Qblv9
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said on Twitter: “We are thrilled to hear of the high court bid to end discrimination against legacy benefit claimants. There is no justification for excluding this group, the majority of whom are disabled, from the £20 increase to Universal Credit.”
Anti-poverty charity Turn2Us added: “Excellent news - people on legacy benefits, the majority of whom are disabled and who have been unjustly excluded from the vital £20 increase made to Universal Credit, now have court permission to challenge this discrimination.”
Today, it was announced that the High Court is to decide whether it was lawful of the Government to refuse the same financial uplift for nearly two million people on legacy benefits as those on Universal Credit have seen. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/jl3zssi3Ad
— mssocietyuk (@mssocietyuk) April 29, 2021
What about those with No Recourse To Public Funds (NRPF)?
Migrant families who are classed by the Home Office as having No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) have not been mentioned in the legal challenge as they are not entitled to so-called legacy benefits under current Home Office rules.
However, the High Court today (29 April) ruled the NRPF policy unlawful for the second time in a year as judges state “it drives some families into destitution and breaches the duty to safeguard child welfare”.
The ruling was made in a case brought on behalf of a five-year-old boy from Zimbabwe.
As a result of the case, the High Court has ordered the Home Office to amend the policy meaning children with low-earning migrant parents could be granted access to essential state support such as housing benefit and universal credit that has previously been denied to them.
