Benefit claimants have lost a legal fight that asked for £1,560 in backdated payments from DWP.
Four claimants argued that against the decision to leave 'legacy benefits' out of the £20 a week rise in Universal Credit that came into force over the pandemic.
Between April 2020 and October, millions of people who were claiming Universal Credit was given an extra £20 a week on top of their payments but this was not extended to other groups.
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As the Daily Record reports, the campaigners say the decision not to include those on older benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support Allowance disproportionately affected disabled people.
The different in payments led to claims of a "two tier" welfare system but while the High Court judge admitted there was discrimination, he said the decision was justified and was not 'unlawful discrimination' that breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
William Ford, partner at Osbornes Law, who represents all four of the individuals who brought the judicial review challenging the failure to extended the £20 uplift to those on legacy benefits, said: "We are extremely disappointed by today's judgement and will study it carefully to assess whether there are any grounds to appeal.
"The court's decision is a devastating blow to more than two million people who we consider were unjustly deprived of the £20 uplift given to those who receive Universal Credit during the pandemic.
"It is deeply unfair that those on so-called legacy benefits should be discriminated against in this way and we will look to see if we can continue to fight the Government on this issue to get our clients and everybody else on legacy benefits justice."
Mr Justice Swift, giving judgement in the case, acknowledged legacy benefits were "low", and said, "it is obvious that any person required to rely only on that level of income will suffer hardship".
But he added the "difference in treatment" between Universal Credit and legacy claimants was "justified", because it was aimed at people who suddenly lost their job due to Covid.
Between March 30, 2020 and October 5, 2021, the standard allowance element of Universal Credit was increased by £86 a month, equivalent to approximately £20 per week. That amounted to an extra £1,560 over that period.
Bu those still on ESA and JSA were offered no corresponding increasing.
Four Claimants brought a challenge in the High Court in relation to the UK Government's failure to apply a similar increase to legacy benefits.
Two of the claimants were in receipt of ESA and the third and fourth Claimants were in receipt of Income Support and JSA respectively.
The court accepted that there was a greater proportion of disabled persons in receipt of legacy benefits, compared to disabled people on Universal Credit, and that both groups of disabled claimants were in the same position.
But while the court accepted that there was discrimination towards disabled people on legacy benefits, the judge ruled that the difference in treatment was justified.
At the hearing, the court had been presented with written evidence that, those new to benefits tended to have higher rates of savings and were better able to meet the costs of the pandemic as a result.
The judgement did acknowledge the very low level of income provided by legacy benefits and the hardship those in receipt of these benefits must have faced during the pandemic.
However, Mr Justice Swift did not consider that this was legally relevant to the justification advanced by the DWP.
The claimants' legal team is currently giving consideration to whether there are merits to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We welcome that the Court found in our favour. The temporary £20 uplift for Universal Credit claimants ensured vital support was given to those facing the most financial disruption due to the pandemic.”
More than 2 million people had been awaiting on the outcome of this challenge in the hope they would get back payments of £1,560 from the UK Government.
