Three firms of solicitors working with disabled people on possible benefit cuts legal cases

At least three legal firms are examining ways in which they could support disabled people and their organisations to challenge some of the government’s proposed cuts to disability benefits in the courts.

Public Law Project (PLP), Leigh Day and Bhatt Murphy – all of which have previously supported disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) to challenge the government – are examining the possibility of taking legal action.

The discussions follow last month’s Pathways to Work green paper, and the subsequent spring statement, which have proposed billions of cuts to disabled people’s support, particularly through £4.5 billion a year cuts to personal independence payment, and billions more from disabled people’s out-of-work benefits.

Some of these measures will now be consulted on, including plans to delay access to the health element of universal credit until a claimant has reached the age of 22, deciding which disabled people should be exempt from universal credit work-related requirements, and delaying the move from disability living allowance to PIP until the age of 18 (from 16 at present).

But other measures, including the £4.5 billion cuts to PIP, and cuts to the health element of universal credit, will not be consulted on – which will make it harder to challenge them in the courts – and will instead be included in a bill to be debated in parliament in the coming weeks.

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) has been in discussions with PLP, the legal firm which acted for disabled activist and author Ellen Clifford in a groundbreaking high court victory that saw the last Conservative government’s consultation on plans to make “substantial” cuts to out-of-work disability benefits declared unlawful.

Linda Burnip, DPAC’s co-founder, said she was “certain” that there will be a legal challenge to the consultation, “given how dire the green paper’s layout is and the fact that accessible formats have only just become available”.

But she said there could also be a human rights challenge to any legislation that is taken through parliament, which could put pressure on the government to amend it.

Georgia Bondy, DPO Forum England’s secretariat – which is funded by Disability Rights UK – said the forum was “exploring a legal challenge to stop the incredibly harmful legislation proposed in the green paper.

“Labour failed to meaningfully engage with disabled people when putting together the green paper, despite the DPO forum’s continual attempts to facilitate co-production, starting from before they were elected.

“They continue to fail to engage meaningfully with disabled people, given that half the points in the proposed legislation are not part of the consultation.

“In no way does this represent Labour’s own commitment to ‘championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do’.

“Prior to the publication of the green paper, the DPO forum made it clear to the disability minister that no cuts to disability benefits would be in line with supporting disabled people to have a minimum quality of life. This has been ignored.

“We will fight the proposed cuts every way we can.”

Leigh Day solicitor Carolin Ott said: “We have been approached by both affected people and organisations that support affected individuals and… they have all expressed serious concerns.

“They are very concerned by the scale and depth of the cuts proposed, particularly the changes to PIP which will inevitably impact the most vulnerable in society.

“We will be looking very carefully as the details are unveiled and considering whether legal action can be pursued.”

Jessie Brennan, from Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, said: “We are exploring all available legal avenues, having been approached about a number of significant concerns arising from the changes announced by the government that have left many feeling scared and anxious at the impact these cuts will have.”

And Aoife O’Reilly, from PLP, said: “We are disappointed that the government has opted not to consult on key welfare benefit cuts set out in the green paper.

“The government says that many of these proposals will be implemented via primary legislation.

“Parliamentarians must therefore ensure that they properly scrutinise the details of any draft bill, and we consider that MPs would be in a much better position to do this if they had the benefit of the output of a comprehensive consultation process, which sought views of those Deaf and disabled people who will be directly impacted.

“We also call on the government to be transparent about the labour market impacts, given that its stated motive for many of these reforms is the fact that it will lead to more people entering the labour market and not being reliant on benefits.”

The 12-week consultation on the green paper was officially launched this week, after DWP finally published accessible versions of the document, in British Sign Language, large print, audio, and easy read, as well as Welsh and large print Welsh versions.

Accessible versions of the green paper’s equality analysis and impact assessment have yet to be published.

Physical copies of the consultation can be ordered, including in braille, large print, audio and easy read.

The consultation applies to England, Scotland and Wales, although not all the proposals apply to Scotland and Wales.

DWP has also announced the dates and locations for nine in-person consultation events across England, Scotland and Wales in April, May and June, and six virtual events in May and June.

Meanwhile, the government has published a call for evidence of pay discrimination on the basis of race and disability, enforcement of the public sector equality duty, and other areas of equality policy, ahead of the publication of its draft equality (race and disability) bill.

Picture: Disabled campaigners outside Downing Street last month to protest over the Pathways to Work cuts 

A note from the editor:

Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.

Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.

Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…