Landmark Case - Iain Duncan Smiths Cruel Regime Is Slowly Being Dismantled

The cruel regime created by Iain Duncan Smith is slowly being dismantled. 

Thousands of benefit claimants have won what is a major legal victory over the Tory government's welfare program. This was a case was brought by two disabled women who challenged the need to appeal within one month or have an appeal dismissed.

Three top judges today ruled a one-month time limit on appealing against a benefits decision is unlawful. 

In a test case, the Upper Tribunal criticised the DWP’s policy of denying claimants an appeal if they failed to act within a month.

The tribunal said many claimants will be vulnerable and that it was ‘obvious that there would be a risk’ that people with good claims would miss the deadline.

Since 2013 a claimant wishing to challenge a decision to refuse them benefits has had to apply for a ‘mandatory reconsideration’ before appealing to an independent tribunal. Where a mandatory reconsideration application is made too late, there is no right of appeal to the tribunal. 

The tribunal, chaired by Mr Justice Charles, said the DWP’s position would improperly make the Secretary of State ‘gatekeeper to the independent tribunal system’.

Image: Mr Justice Charles

Instead, the tribunal said the correct position is that where a claimant makes a mandatory reconsideration request at any time within 13 months of the original decision, they will, if dissatisfied, subsequently be entitled to pursue the challenge to a tribunal.

The government argued that there was no need to have access to the tribunal because its decisions on late mandatory reconsideration requests could be challenged by judicial review.

However, the tribunal said that out of 1,544,805 mandatory reconsideration decisions made by government since 2013, not one had been subject to a judicial review challenge of the kind the government suggested was a reasonable alternative.

The Child Protection Action Group CPAG brought the case on behalf of two women with serious mental and other health issues.

They were both denied the disability benefit Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) after meeting a disability assessor.

But they left it too late - five months in one case and 10 months in the other - to lodge their appeal.

The case challenged Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rules which say anyone who wants to appeal must go through an internal system called 'mandatory reconsideration' first.

Those rules say most reconsiderations must be brought within a month.

Instead the judges said the time limit should be 13 months after someone's benefits are rejected.

The Upper Tribunal, which rules in the most serious benefit disputes and includes a High Court judge on its panel, said its decision is likely to affect "many thousands" of cases "at the very least".

A DWP spokesperson said: ’We have received the tribunal’s decision and are considering the judgment.’