A Court of Appeal hearing will take place near the end of the year over a battle between the Department for Work and Pensions and people who receive legacy benefits, it has been confirmed.
People on Universal Credit received an extra £20 a week for 18 months during the Covid pandemic. The uplift, amounting to a total of £1,560, came to an end in October 2021.
However, those on other benefits argue that they too should have had the money to deal with the additional costs they had to bear during that same period. Legacy benefits recipients say the decision not to give them a top-up as well was discriminatory and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
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In February, a High Court judge ruled in favour of the DWP, saying its intention of providing support to people who lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic and were forced to claim Universal Credit for the first time was fully justified. The legal team decided to take the battle further and was granted permission for a hearing at the Court of Appeal later this year, reports Birmingham Live.
One of the claimants involved has now said: "I am happy to announce that our appeal in the #legacybenefits case will be heard on either the 6th or 7th of December 2022." And a member of one of the law firms involved in the case has confirmed this, saying: "Legacy benefits £20 Covid uplift court appeal has been scheduled for the 6th or 7th December 2022, a massive thanks to our legal who have worked so hard on this case."
The three benefits at the centre of the court case are:
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income Support
- Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
Two disabled people on ESA launched the original legal challenge and were joined by one person on Income Support and one on JSA. Around 2.4 million people would be in line to receive the extra cash.
That's made up of 1,846,000 people claiming Employment and Support Allowance, 264,000 on Jobseeker's Allowance and a further 247,000 on Income Support. If the appeal is won, the money paid out would amount to a staggering £3.74bn in Covid cash compensation.
William Ford, solicitor for the claimants, previously told BirminghamLive: "If the court finds in favour of that and makes a declaration, the Government has to go away and then decide how to rectify that. But the court can't tell the DWP what to do so we have to wait and see. The hope would be that the Government comes up with some sort of package of support for those on legacy benefits."
He said this would likely be backpay because the Universal Credit uplift to the standard allowance was not maintained beyond 18 months. If it had been kept in place, then lawyers would be asking for an equivalent amount to be added to the other benefits.
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