The High Court has ruled that a legal challenge of the Access to Work cap can go ahead.
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The restrictions were introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions to limit the amount of support that individuals can be awarded. Currently the cap is set at £42,100 and goes up every April (from April 2018 it will be £43,100, 1.5x the average national salary).
The launch of the challenge comes just a few months after the government published its disability employment strategy with the ambitious target of getting one million more Disabled people into work. It also follows publication in October 2017 of research commissioned by Inclusion London which found evidence of systemic problems with Access to Work
The case is being brought under the Equality Act 2010 with funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Inclusion London’s Disability Justice Project is also supporting the legal challenge
The two key issues being heard relate to the public sector equality duty and indirect discrimination, in particular the disproportionately effect of the cap on Deaf BSL users and Disabled people with high support needs, effectively removing employment support from those with the most complex needs and placing them at a disadvantage when trying to get into, stay in and get on in paid work.
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