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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit migration  →  Thread

Group Claims for Recovery of SDP & EDP

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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Hi all

I am back on these discussion boards after a very long absence.

Following the excellent result achieved by my colleagues, in R (TP and AR) v SSWP [2018] EWHC 1474 (Admin), I am now looking at bringing a group claim on behalf of all of those who have lost out on their entitlement to SDP & EDP as a result of their natural migration to UC. We don’t think the proposed transitional payments are sufficient and we think the Government ought to compensate people for the stress that they have suffered.

I am particularly looking at cases where the transition to UC was as a result of a move to a new LA and/or an error but think any loss of SDP & EDP is potentially challengeable in light of the new Regulations.

I have attached the presentation I delivered to NAWRA in Salford on this topic.

If anyone would like further information please feel free to get in touch on here or by contacting me at work https://www.leighday.co.uk/Our-experts/Senior-staff/Ryan-Bradshaw.

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Elliot Kent
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Questions:

(1) Is this a money claim rather than a JR of the TP Regs then?

(2) Are you interested in cases where people will have missed out on the SDP compensation entirely despite having lost out financially - for example where the claimant was entitled to SDP on transition but has subsequently acquired a carer and therefore doesn’t qualify for the payment at all?

(3) Do you think that claimants who receive inadequate SDP compensation ought to pursue FtT appeals as, if the Carmichael #2 Supreme Court appeal is successful, then the FtT will be able to concoct a remedy without any costs risk?

[ Edited: 5 Mar 2019 at 04:23 pm by Elliot Kent ]
Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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Elliot Kent - 05 March 2019 04:16 PM

Questions:

(1) Is this a money claim rather than a JR of the TP Regs then?

(2) Are you interested in cases where people have missed out on the SDP cases entirely despite having missed out - for example where the claimant was entitled to SDP on transition but has subsequently acquired a carer and therefore doesn’t qualify for the payment?

(3) Do you think that claimants who receive inadequate SDP compensation ought to pursue FtT appeals as, if the Carmichael #2 Supreme Court appeal is successful, then the FtT will be able to concoct a remedy without any costs risk?

Hi Elliot

(1) The original JR is still ongoing as it is subject to appeal, I am not wanting to create two separate leading cases on this issue. The focus of this claim would be on recovering monies pending the outcome of that appeal and in the interim hopefully motivate the Government to increase the proposed transitional payments. The venue for issue and method by which we pursue the claim will be determined by the number of clients we have.

(2) If SDP EDP was in payment immediately prior to transfer and then removed then we would look at bringing a claim but this may not be for some time while we concentrate on bringing claims for those whose circumstances are analogous to those found in TP & AR and TD & AD.

(3) I don’t think that is a bad idea, it depends on whether the FtT advisor is confident in bringing those types of arguments and confident on the prospects of success in Carmichael #2. Of course all of us at Leigh Day are hoping Carmichael #2 succeeds. The benefit of bringing claims outside the FtT is that we already have a pretty solid judgment on liability so the costs risk is as minimal as it is ever likely to get and we should only be arguing about the remedy in front of Judges who know the cases and have already been prepared to find in the Claimants’ favour. Additionally we can group together claims so people who might struggle to participate in proceedings can still get the benefit of the action as the more motivated participants can be used as lead Claimants.

Hope that answers your questions and gives a bit of insight into our thinking.

Elliot Kent
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Ryan Bradshaw - 05 March 2019 04:36 PM

Hope that answers your questions and gives a bit of insight into our thinking.

It does. Interesting - thanks.

 

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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To make it easier for people to sign up we now have a section on our website where you just need to fill in a simple online form to register an interest in the claim. There are also some FAQS on there.

https://www.leighday.co.uk/Employment-discrimination/Current-cases/Universal-Credit-group-action

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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UPDATE

Following TP AR & SXC, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work And Pensions [2019] EWHC 1127 (Admin) (https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2019/1127.html) we are now opening up the claims to anyone who lost their SDP or EDP as a result of a migration to Universal Credit prior to 16 January 2019. We think this covers over 10,000 people.

Client care letters are out for the first group of Claimants and we will be sending pre-action correspondence imminently.

In the first instance we would be grateful if referrals could be passed through the online portal but are happy to chat things through with any advisers who have questions.

Remember the DWP compensation scheme is merely a finger in the dam.

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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A note to say that the group claims are still being brought and we are still keen to hear from service users who have suffered the loss of disability premiums.

The government’s new regs do not adequately compensate people for their financial losses and certainly do not compensate them for the emotional distress that has been caused and are already subject to a challenge.

https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2019/August-2019/Government-faces-third-legal-challenge-to-Universa

Ryan Bradshaw
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Alright all.

By way of an update we are shortly going to send pre-action correspondence to the Secretary of State.

If anyone wants a copy please feel free to email me.

We are still looking for referrals. Basically anyone who has received a backdated payment should be making a claim for further compensation.

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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Following various excellent results in the Court of Appeal we have now sent out our PaP letter.

We currently have 275 clients signed up and would love to have more. We intend to continue taking on new clients even after the claim is issued.

The plan is to issue protectively in July and then see where we are post TP & AR’s third judicial review. Pushing for interim settlements while we wait.

Once again if anyone wants to have a look at the PaP letter let me know and if anyone is interested in bringing a claim I more than happy to look at their circumstances.

Hope everyone is safe and well.

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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Apologies for the recent lack of updates.

The claim has been issued by schedule with over 300 claimants now part of it.

We are likely to be stayed pending the outcome of the latest crop of Judicial Reviews but will be using our time to try and come to some sort of settlement.

People can still sign up and we will add them to our schedule of claimants.

Daphne
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Third JR challenge by TP and AR to be heard in High Court on 19-21 October 2021 - challenging that SDP transitional protection still does not compensate for loss - only pays £120 instead of £180 -

https://www.leighday.co.uk/latest-updates/news/2021-news/severely-disabled-benefits-claimants-win-permission-for-third-legal-challenge-over-loss-of-income-on-universal-credit/

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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These claims continue to rumble on.

Unfortunately the DWP appear to be intent on doing as little as possible until we have the outcome of TP & AR 3 so progress has been glacial.

I will continue to update you as and when we have movement.

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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Hi all,

The claim has now been served and we expect a response from the DWP by no later than 16 September.

It appears the key battleground will be whether the Claimants are entitled to damages for non-pecuniary (stress and injury to health) damages. We think the law is pretty clear on this but the DWP beg to differ.

We also anticipate that we will be exploring issues surrounding who was awarded backdated transitional payments. The Regs stated this would be based on ‘entitlement’ but in many cases it appears the DWP read this as ‘payment’ and failed to compensate people who ought to have received these payments without notifying them of their decision.

If anyone wants any further details or to discuss any issues service users are having with migration (barring erosion…) my contact information is available.

Ryan

Ryan Bradshaw
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Leigh Day, Manchester

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Hi all,

We are trying to persuade the DWP of the benefits of settlement while fighting to move things along in the courts. Not an easy task at the present time.

In very good news some of you might be aware of the DWP being refused permission to appeal the TP & AR 3 decision in the Court of Appeal:

https://casetracker.justice.gov.uk/search.do?search=2022-000398

This ostensibly means they will now need to make arrangements to reimburse everyone who lost EDP as a result of their transfer to UC. Some of you may wish to question what their plans are to carry out this exercise via any impacted service users’ UC journals. You may also wish to pay close attention to those that you think ought to receive compensation as ‘entitlement’ is no guarantee given what we have seen with the SDP repayment exercise.

All the best,

Ryan

[ Edited: 30 Jan 2023 at 02:23 pm by Stuart ]
SarahBatty
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Durham Welfare Rights

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Thanks for the update Ryan. Keep going!

The implications of TP3 are absolutely huge aren’t they? DWP will have to compensation everyone who had the transitional SDP element and it’s predecessor the ‘transitional SDP amount’ by an additional EDP amount. I hope they have records of everyone. And are able to recalculate the effect of erosion on these entitlements. They could have just paid the appropriate amount to start with and saved themselves a right load of faff, not to mention the moral case for why they should have done so.

We await the DWP’s announcements with baited breath.

Andrew Dutton
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Oh boy, have DWP made this last so far.

I’m awaiting DWP’s announcement on TP & AR3, based on their behaviour in previous cases, that they won the case barring unimportant aspects such as the outcome.