People in the UK who missed out on the £20 weekly uplift paid to millions on Universal Credit during the Covid crisis can watch a live stream of an appeal hearing about the case. The hearing was taking place in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, December 7.
The challenge has been streamed live on the Court of Appeal Civil Division's official YouTube channel for Court 75. It can be viewed here.
The right to appeal the ruling could now result in the four legacy benefits claimants involved in the case being awarded more than £1,500 in backdated payments from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It could also set a precedent for everyone who missed out on the uplift, reports the Daily Record.
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There is no guarantee a ruling in the claimants' favour would result in backdated payments for each person across the UK also on legacy benefits who missed out on the extra support during the coronavirus pandemic. However, it could trigger a wave of similar legal challenges.
A summary of the proceedings on the Judiciary website states: "Facts: the appeal arises out of a judicial review of the Respondent’s failure as part of the Government's pandemic response to increase the Personal Allowance of Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance and income-related Employment and Support Allowance (known as 'legacy benefits') in line with the increase made to the Standard Allowance for Universal Credit (UC)." It continues: "It is the Appellants' case that the difference in treatment between those in receipt of UC and those in receipt of legacy benefits is incompatible with Article 14 ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) as it was unjustified and disproportionate, particularly as disabled people were disproportionately affected by the difference in treatment."
Why has there been this appeal?
People on Universal Credit received a £20 weekly increase from the DWP from April 2020 to October 2021 to help them pay for additional costs incurred during the global health crisis and subsequent lockdowns. However, the uplift was not extended to more than two million people on older benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - which campaign groups said disproportionately affected disabled people.
Four claimants brought a challenge to the High Court in November 2021 in relation to the UK Government's failure to apply a similar increase to legacy benefits. Two of the claimants are in receipt of ESA and the third and fourth claimants are 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.
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