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Permission given for first judicial review
Mr Couling’s perspective on the statement of DWP regarding transitional protection for those losing SDP:
I think a NAWRA response is needed to this sophistry.
We all know that the ‘change of circumstances’ is one forced upon the claimant by such things as a dud WCA decision (with no way back to IRESA even if the decision is overturned) or something as simple as a house move, and the disability, needs etc of the claimant go unchanged. The ‘change’ is artificial, the rules are unfair and DWP and Mr Couling know this perfectly well.
Perhaps someone who tweets can also ask Mr Couling to quote the current legislation that provides for transitional protection for claimant who would otherwise loss the SDP/EDP when ‘naturally migrated’ to UC. Otherwise we must all conclude that his statement is wrong & deliberately misleading.
Perhaps he can also provide examples of claimants who are ‘naturally migrated’ to UC without having a change of circumstances (apart from those who might ‘volunteer’ to move from legacy benefits - and as far as I can see they would still lose SDP/EDP!).
Perhaps someone who tweets can also ask Mr Couling to quote the current legislation that provides for transitional protection for claimant who would otherwise loss the SDP/EDP when ‘naturally migrated’ to UC. Otherwise we must all conclude that his statement is wrong & deliberately misleading.
Perhaps he can also provide examples of claimants who are ‘naturally migrated’ to UC without having a change of circumstances (apart from those who might ‘volunteer’ to move from legacy benefits - and as far as I can see they would still lose SDP/EDP!).
He appears to be largely a bot happy to regurgitate press releases and official lines but incapable of actual engagement. I live on Twitter but it’s really not worth the effort, excepting that I have had great fun highlighting the “broadcast only, set to transmit not receive” nature of his communications. I may not be the only member here guilty as charged :)
Can anyone link me to what Esther Mc Vey or David Gauke have said in parliament when asked about SDP / TP issue?
Mr Couling continues to debate with us on Twitter, I believe he is just using rhetoric now ... but has been unable to provide a link to the TP regulations, confirm that people who previously had SDP lose out financially, or define his term ‘change of circs’.
I don’t have Esther McVey saying it but Sarah Newton says a bit in this debate, in particular here -
Unlike the previous system, universal credit is more targeted, and support is focused on those who need it most. Transitional protection is available for people who move into universal credit from other benefits, provided their circumstances stay the same.
Can anyone link me to what Esther Mc Vey or David Gauke have said in parliament when asked about SDP / TP issue?
Mr Couling continues to debate with us on Twitter, I believe he is just using rhetoric now ... but has been unable to provide a link to the TP regulations, confirm that people who previously had SDP lose out financially, or define his term ‘change of circs’.
There’s this cracking piece of technical detail…
Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)
The Secretary of State claims that universal credit is constantly improving and that he is responding to concerns. Will he respond to my concerns and those of the Child Poverty Action Group and others, that the Government are knowingly putting 200,000 children into poverty as a result of the two-child cap, that they know the two-child cap is having a disproportionate impact on religious minorities and that their vile rape clause is stigmatising women in Northern Ireland and putting them in danger?
Mr Gauke
We have of course put transitional protection into the system. The hon. Lady represents a Scottish constituency; if the Scottish Government wish to provide support for third, fourth and fifth children, they can provide exactly that.
Universal Credit 23 November 2017
That’s about all that I’ve been able to find on the subject.
Mr Couling’s perspective on the statement of DWP regarding transitional protection for those losing SDP:
While he’s right to say that when there have been changes to existing benefits transitional protection has never covered those with a change of circumstances there is a crucial difference with UC.
With existing benefits it was only change of circumstances affecting eligibility for that specific benefit that would break transitional protection. For example, a change of address would not affect anything other than Housing Benefit. Because UC amalgamates many benefits and has a whole load of eligibility factors for the various elements any change to pretty much any one of them kills transitional protection for everything.
While it would be possible to say that a change would only affect transitional protection on the UC element directly affected by that change it could make for a complex and messy system that would be much harder to administer. Whether that is a good reason for UC working the way it does is open to question.
I may not be the only member here guilty as charged :)
i have no idea who you could possibly mean
CPAG have applied, on behalf of two claimant households, for permission to bring a judicial review regarding the lack of transitional protection, or possibility of return to legacy benefits in cases where DWP stops a legacy benefit, pushing claimant to claim UC, and the decision to stop the legacy benefit (for example negative WCA on ESA) is subsequently shown to have been wrong.
See the testcase page here: http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/universal-credit-disability-and-transitional-protection
Martin.
Can anyone link me to what Esther Mc Vey or David Gauke have said in parliament when asked about SDP / TP issue?
Going back to when she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary, on 05 November 2012:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2012-11-05/debates/1211058000028/UniversalCredit
Teresa Pearce:
“Holes in the Safety Net”, the report just mentioned, indicated that about 450,000 disabled people lose out under the universal credit rules. This number was also raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg), the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, in a recent Westminster Hall debate that the Minister attended. Will she listen to these two highly respected women and amend her plans?Esther McVey :
We have been listening very much. We found some of the reports to be highly selective and quite skewed. They did not take into consideration how much extra support was going to people with disabilities, but we are listening, there is transitional protection and we will be releasing the assessment criteria later in the year.
There have been similar ambiguous comments from Duncan Smith in Hansard, e.g.: “We are transitionally protecting those who are moving on to universal credit.”, or ”.. we have cash-protected people through transitional protection so that when they move off tax credits on to universal credit, they will suffer no loss.”
Thanks for all the links. I’m totally new to this side of things but I’m going to try to get another question asked in Parliament.
Leigh Day solicitors have also lodged another JR case involving someone who has lost SDP by moving into a full service area where he needed to claim for housing costs, and was misadvised that his ESA would remain in payment.
I think this means claimants in same situation can lodge MRs and Appeals and ask for them to be stayed pending the outcome of these cases?
Transitional protection, even when it exists, is misleading. So said the civil servant who invented it. See paragraph 4 of the attached letter from 2012:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/mar/28/remembering-tony-newton?INTCMP=SRCH
I always knew that keeping this link might come in useful one day…
Written answer from Alok Sharma yesterday shows no movement on transitional protection for those who naturally migrate…
We have always said that there will be transitional protection for those with existing premiums who move over to Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process, whose overall Universal Credit entitlement would be less than under the old system, provided that their circumstances remain the same.
Claimants who ‘naturally’ move to Universal Credit will do so because they have had a change of circumstances. In such cases claimants will continue to have their new welfare support entitlement calculated based on the rules of their new benefit.