Law firm Leigh Day has been given permission to take the first judicial review in the High Court over the controversial decision by the Government to implement Universal Credit.
It is being taken on behalf of a 52-year-old terminally ill man over the decision by the Government to remove disability benefits (premiums) from people with severe disabilities leaving them in financial difficulties once they are transferred to Universal Credit.
According to Leigh Day, the removal of these two benefits has seen their client TP lose £178 each month.
Tessa Gregory and Lucy Cadd from the law firm Leigh Day are bringing a judicial review challenge to the discontinuance of the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) and Enhanced Disability Premium (EDP) contained in legacy benefits when individuals are transferred, or ‘naturally migrated’, to Universal Credit without any transitional protection to cover the resulting significant shortfall to their income.
They represent two individuals who have lost their disability premia by virtue of moving house, into another UC full service borough. The two individuals are bringing anonymised claims and are known as ‘TP’ and ‘AR’, they both suffer from physical and/or mental health conditions. The loss of their SDP and EDP has resulted in a loss of approximately £200 per month, which is causing them significant financial and emotional hardship.
They have now reached the stage of the judicial review in which they need to collate and prepare supportive evidence. It would be helpful for the court to be provided with other case studies which show the broad and varied range of situations in which individuals are caught by the UC provisions, as well as the different impact that the loss of the SDP and EDP has had on peoples lives.
If any of your clients, or anybody you have been in contact with, have been moved on to UC as natural migrants, and have had their legacy benefits discontinued, in particular their SDP and EDP which had been paid through their ESA as a result of them being in receipt of DLA or PIP, Leigh Day would be extremely grateful if you could provide a short summary of their situation which sets out how they came to be on UC and how the loss of their SDP/EDP is affecting them.
Please contact Tessa or Lucy at Leigh Day if you require any further information. Tessa Gregory - tgregory@leighday.co.uk and Lucy Cadd - lcadd@leighday.co.uk
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