An appeal to give people who claim old-style legacy benefits backpay worth £1,500 has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
During the covid pandemic, people claiming Universal Credit were given a £20-a-week boost to their payments for 18 months, but the same rate increase was not passed on to those on older benefits, such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA).
Campaign groups said this disproportionately affected disabled people, with them effectively missing out on £1,500.
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William Ford KC, the solicitor from Osbornes Law who represented the four claimants involved in the legal challenge, confirmed in a statement on the law firm’s website that the High Court had upheld the ruling made in the original hearing on February 18, 2022.
In the summary of the outcome, the Court of Appeal accepted that people on legacy benefits such as the claimants, two are in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the third and fourth are on Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), had been treated less favourably as a group and it was also accepted that there was indirect discrimination on the grounds of disability, the Daily Record reports.
Mr Ford KC explains that the Court of Appeal then had to decide whether that difference of treatment could be justified.
The statement continues: “However, on this point, whilst the Court accepted that those on legacy benefits were ‘undoubtedly vulnerable’, the government had made a hard choice to prioritise those in the labour market, who they anticipated would become unemployed as a result of the pandemic.”
It added: “The judgement also acknowledges that the rates of legacy benefits are low and that any person required to live on that level of income would experience hardship.”
Commenting on the ruling, Mr Ford KC, said: “I appreciate that this outcome will be a great disappointment to many people on legacy benefits who have been waiting patiently for this judgement.
“All possible effort was made to persuade the Court of Appeal to reach a different outcome and it is deeply disappointing that this did not prove possible."
He added: “All that remains for me to do is give thanks to the claimants for being willing to bring this challenge to the government, as well as to their barristers, Jamie Burton KC and Desmond Rutledge, who so ably put forward the legal arguments on their behalf.”
You can read the full statement on the ruling on the Osbornes Law website here
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