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Use this template if all the following apply

• Your client receives UC
• Your client has a disability or health condition which means they will be found to have limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) once assessed
• It has been more than 29 days since your client claimed UC and/or reported that they have a health condition which affects their ability to work
• Your client has been submitting fit notes or other medical evidence since they claimed UC or first reported their health condition
• Your client has not received a form UC50 and/or has not been referred for a work capability assessment (WCA) at all or within a reasonable time

This letter assumes that (so can be changed)

• Your client has not already been found to have limited capability for work (LCW)
• Your client is subject to inappropriate UC conditionality

The main legal arguments in this template are:

1. A WCA finding on whether a claimant has LCWRA is incorporated into a decision on entitlement, i.e., whether that claimant is entitled to the LCWRA element, made under s.8 of the Social Security Act 1998 (SSA 1998) under which the Secretary of State shall “decide any claim for a relevant benefit”. The duty to make a decision within a reasonable time applies to s.8 of the SSA. What counts as a reasonable time depends on all the circumstances, including the impact on the claimant.
2. DWP failure to refer the claimant for a WCA within a reasonable time to establish whether they have LWCRA fails to give effect to the policy intention behind the removal of severe disability premium and enhanced disability premium in legacy benefits as it leaves claimants with serious health conditions with only the standard UC allowance.
3. Provision of an additional LCWRA element is necessary to avoid the discriminatory impact of treating those with and without disabilities the same. Failure to assess a claimants capability for work such that they do not receive the additional LCWRA element,  and are potentially required to undertake work-related activity, amounts to indirect discrimination contrary to the Equality Act 2010.

Information about your client

• name
• address
• national insurance number (NINo)
• date of birth (DoB)

Background facts

Such as:

•  when your client started receiving UC and their reasons for applying
• details of your client's health condition/disability and when and how this has been notified to the DWP and when and how the DWP has responded
• details of your client's current UC conditionality
• whether your client has incurred a UC sanction, and if so, when
• consequential losses (financial and emotional distress) arising from sanction (if relevant)

Information relating to the decision

• any reasons DWP has given for not referring your client for a WCA yet, and for subjecting your client to conditionality
• the dates of all relevant decisions
• any specific errors made by the DWP
• any steps your client has taken to clarify their position and the relevant dates
• how and when your client was notified of the refusal to amend their conditionality (if relevant)

We've created this guide is 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.

Use this letter if your client:

• is terminally ill and has notified the DWP of this by providing an SR1 (or DS1500) form from their doctor or other health care professional
• has had their UC claim 'closed' for failure to accept a claimant commitment

The main legal arguments in this template are:

• The power to allow exceptions to the general rule requiring a claimants to accept a claimant commitment to be entitled to UC is under s.4(2) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (WRA)
• Regulation 16(2) Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (as amended)  (UC Regs) provides an exception for claimants who are terminally ill.
• Terminal illness is defined by reg 2 UC Regs as 'suffering from a progressive disease where death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 12 months'.
• Under DWP's guidance, 'Terminal Illness', evidence of terminal illness is confirmed when a SR1 (or DS1500) form is provided, unless there is 'good reason' to doubt the information it contains.
• Even if DWP's definition of terminal illness is not met, 'exceptional circumstances' allowing an exception from the claimant commitment may still apply under DWP guidance ADM J1205.
• In requiring your client to accept a claimant commitment, when your client has provided an SR1 (or DS1500) form, and refusing to make or terminating their UC award, the DWP have failed to follow the law and their own guidance.

Information about your client

• name
• address
• national insurance number
• date of birth

Background facts relating to your client

• household/family situation
• other income including Personal Independence Payment award details if relevant
• disability/medical details
• date they claimed and were awarded UC

Information relating to the decision

• date SR1/DS1500 form provided to DWP and by whom
• terminal illness and prognosis (as per that form)
• details of the claimant commitment your client was required to accept, how this was notified to them and why they could not accept it
• contact with DWP and how they responded
• details of financial hardships/debts
• effect on health, etc    

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.

Use this letter if 

Your client:

• is terminally ill and has notified the DWP of this by providing an SR1 (or DS1500) form from their doctor or other health care professional
• has been told their capability for work must be assessed before they can be treated as having LCWRA and the LCWRA element can be included in their UC award

This letter assumes

(so can be edited if it does not apply)

• Your client has cancer,
• Your client is subject to work-related requirements.

The main legal arguments in this template are:

• Under schedule 9 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (UC Regs), a claimant who is terminally ill is to be treated as having LCWRA and no work capability assessment is required.
• Terminal illness is defined by regulation 2 UC Regs, as amended by the Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance (Terminal Illness) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 as ‘suffering from a progressive disease where death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 12 months’.
• Regulations 27 and 28 of the UC Regs provide that claimants who are terminally ill are immediately paid an additional LCWRA element of UC.
• Under section 19 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, terminally ill claimants must also not be expected or required to carry out any work-related activity in order to receive their benefit.

Information about your client

• name
• address
• national insurance number
• date of birth

Background facts relating to your client

• When they started receiving UC and their reasons for applying
• When and how they notified DWP of their terminal illness and when and how DWP responded
• Details of their current UC conditionality
• Whether they have incurred a UC sanction – and if so, when
• Consequential losses (financial and emotional distress) arising from any sanctions

Information relating to the decision

•  the reasons DWP has given for not including the LCWRA element straightaway, referring your client for a WCA, and subjecting your client to conditionality
• the dates of all relevant decisions
• any specific errors made by the DWP
• any steps your client has taken to clarify their position and the relevant dates
• how and when your client was notified of the refusal to include the LCWRA element / treat them as having LCWRA / amend their conditionality.

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.

Use this template if all the following apply:

• your client has been overpaid their wages by their employer
• the overpayment has been treated as earned or unearned income by the DWP and their UC payment has been reduced
• the DWP has refused to correct the error
• your client is in financial hardship

This template assumes (so can be changed)

• The DWP has raised an RTI dispute which has not resolved the issue.
• Your client has less than £6,000 in capital (including the amount of the overpayment of wages).
• The DWP has said the overpayment cannot be ignored as your client has not paid it back to their employer.
• The overpayment is not the result of a Johnson-style non working day shift. If this is the case your client should post on their UC journal asking for an RTI dispute to be raised and for the RTI dispute team to apply reg 61(6) UC Regs 2013 so that one monthly wage is assigned to a different assessment period.

The main legal arguments in this template are:

• An overpayment of wages does not meet the definition of earned income under regulations 52 and 55 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (UC Regs).
• An overpayment of wages does not meet the definition of unearned income under regulation 66 UC Regs.
• Further, in R(IS)5/99 the Court of Appeal held that an overpayment of student finance (paid after the clamant had left education) was not “income” for the purposes of calculating entitlement to benefit since there was “an immediate obligation to repay”, as in the case of an overpayment of wages.
• Under regulation 46(3) UC Regs, as the payment “is not a sum paid regularly or by reference to a period” it must be treated as capital.
• If the claimant’s capital is less than £6,000, the payment must be disregarded as both income and capital. It does not matter if your client has to immediately repay the money or not.

Information about your client

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

Background facts

Such as:

• when your client started receiving UC and their reasons for applying
• your client’s household income
• your client's employer's name and address details
• how much your client is usually paid, and whether they are a PAYE employee
• how much your client has been overpaid and the reason for the overpayment (if there is one)
• the financial hardship your client is experiencing as a result of the overpayment of wages

Information about the decision

• the date and details of the payment statement showing the incorrect income figure(s)
• dates and details of your client’s attempts to resolve the issue and of the evidence they have provided to DWP to show it is an overpayment
• how and when the DWP responded

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.