DWP failure to apply the work allowance to a claimant's earnings when they are treated as having LCWRA due to cancer

Use this template if all the following apply

• Your client has been awarded UC
• Your client is undergoing treatment for cancer and is unable to work as a result
• Conditionality has been turned off
• Your client has ongoing earnings (including sick pay)
• The work allowance has not been applied to their earnings (sick pay) in calculating their UC

When not to use

Do not use this letter if:

• Your client has not been treated as having LCWRA because DWP say they cannot be assessed due to their earnings, please use template JR167 instead. 

The main legal arguments in this template are:

1. Under regulation 22 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (UC Regs) the amount of a claimant’s earnings (including sick pay) which are taken into account to calculate a UC award is reduced by way of a ‘work allowance’ where a claimant has limited capability for work.
2. A claimant with limited capability for work-related activity also has limited capability for work.
3. Under regulation 40 UC Regs, a claimant who is treated as having limited capability for work and work-related activity by virtue of the circumstances set out in Schedule 9 (including treatment for cancer), has limited capability for work and work-related activity.
4. In failing to apply the work allowance as soon as C was treated as having LCWRA, SSWP has unlawfully failed to apply the law.

Information about your client

• name
• address
• national insurance number (NINO)
• date of birth

Background facts

Such as:

• date your client claimed and was awarded universal credit
• details of - and the date of - your client’s cancer diagnosis and of their treatment now, or planned in the future
• any other disability or vulnerability in the household
• details of your client’s work, earnings, sick leave and sick pay
• whether your client has been submitting regular fit notes and the periods covered by their fit notes
• whether your client has competed and returned a UC50
• the impact on your client of the reduction in income 

Information relating to the decision

• how and when your client’s diagnosis and treatment was evidenced to the DWP, and how the DWP responded (quotes from your client’s journal if possible). Ask your client to download a copy of their journal so that you can see exactly what DWP have said. See Make instructions for clients on how to get information from their online universal credit account

We've created this guide to help you successfully use our judicial review pre-action letter templates: Guide to using CPAG's judicial review pre-action letter templates

Once you've finished your letter, please email it to us at: [email protected] before you send it to the lawyers acting for DWP/HMRC/your local authority. We'll try to reply as quickly as possible and will do so within 7 days.