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Use this template if all the following apply

• Your client was in receipt of old style contribution based ESA and this ended after 365 days
  • before your client's capability for work has been assessed assessed and once assessed, your client would have had LCWRA (been in the support group), and/or  
  • your client has no/low income such that income related ESA should have continued when contribution based ESA stopped.
• Your client is in urgent need. 

When not to use

Do not use this template if

• your client is not in urgent need; if your client is not in urgent need they should request a mandatory reconsideration of the decision to stop their ESA and then appeal, or
• your client has lodged an appeal of the decision to end their ESA entitlement. See instead Request for an appeal to be dealt with urgently if your client is in urgent need.

The main legal arguments in this template are:

• under s1A Welfare Reform Act 2007 an award of contributon based ESA ends after 365 days unless the claimant is in the support group (ie, has LCWRA)
• In R (Smith) v SSWP JR/1249/18 SSWP accepted that old style ESA is one benefit with two elements and no separate claim for income based ESA is required.
• In R(IS)10/05 the Commissioner held that before terminating an award where the claimant no longer met the criteria on which it was originally awarded, the DWP must consider whether the claimant was entitled under any other head of entitlement. 

This letter argues that entitlement due to having LCWRA and/or to income related ESA should have been determined before ESA was ended.  

Information about your client

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

Background facts relating to your client

• details of your client's ESA award including the date it started
• whether and if so when your client was sent and returned an ESA50
• your client's income and capital now and at the time they claimed ESA and whether this information has been requested by DWP, and/or provided by your client to DWP
• your client's medical condition(s) relating to mental and/or physical health or disability and why they would have been found to have LCWRA if their capability for work had been assessed
• the impact on your client of their ESA ending

Information relating to the decision(s)

• date ESA ended
• date of the decision notifying your client their ESA would end and the reason provided by DWP
• whether and if so the date on which your client sought a mandatory reconsideration of the decision to end their ESA
• details including dates of relevant communications with DWP

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: 

• is under 35 years old and is subject to the Shared Accommodation Rate of Local Housing Allowance (LHAs)
• cannot afford their rent and is at imminent risk of homelessness
• has applied for a DHP and been refused
• has mental health disability (letter assumes also physical but this can be edited out) which would make shared accommodation unsuitable
• is appealing a PIP decision that refused them PIP
• when PIP is awarded they will be able to afford their rent, and
• the local authority’s dispute resolution has already been tried.

This template assumes your client is in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) which includes the Limited Capability for Work Related Activity Element. You can change this when you use the template.

When not to use

Do not use this template if:

Your client has not already sought a review of the decision to refuse them DHP or has not allowed a reasonable time for the local authority to respond to their review request.

The main legal arguments in this template are:

• While the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001 place some limitations on the circumstances in which a DHP can be awarded, in all other cases local authorities (“LAs") are given a wide discretion to decide whether to award DHP and how much, but that discretion must be exercised in accordance with public law principles.
• DWP Guidance suggests factors which should be taken into account in deciding DHP applications and makes clear “each case must be considered on its own individual merits”. There is a public law duty to follow published guidance, and to exercise discretion in consideration of relevant factors and not in consideration of irrelevant factors.
• These duties appear to have been breached if a claimant who has an upcoming PIP appeal which will exempt them from the shared accommodation rate, lower than average rent such that if they moved they would need to apply for more DHP, and mental health evidence stating moving to shared accommodation would be inappropriate is refused DHP.
• This template further argues disability discrimination. 

Information about your client

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

Background facts relating to your client

• age
• their private landlord's details
• income details confirm receipt of UC
• condition(s) relating to mental and/or physical disability
• bills/expenses (monthly rent, food, electricity, travel expenses etc)
• rent arrears and details of any possession action started

Information relating to the decision(s)

• confirm client has exhausted local authority’s dispute resolution scheme
• confirm PIP application has been refused and the reason
• medical evidence from client’s GP
• DHP application / reference
• reasons for refusal of DHP
• correspondence with local authority and/or the Housing Benefit Department
• the relevant local authority's policies/guidance regarding DHPs

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.

If a DHP is refused because it has been requested on a long-term (rather than short-term basis) please get in touch, and see Halvai (R on the application of) v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham [2017] EWHC 802 (Admin) (9 March 2017).

If a DHP is refused because PIP/DLA has been taken into account as income, please get in touch (and include a copy of your local authority's DHP policy).

Contact [email protected]