Current test cases

Maternity Allowance and Universal Credit

Moore and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions CO/4081/2019. On 18 October 2019, CPAG issued judicial review proceedings challenging the treatment of maternity allowance as unearned income in the calculation of universal credit awards.

Current Test case

Test case

Universal credit and lone parents under 25

LR and others v SSWP CO/3678/2019: On 17 September 2019, CPAG filed a judicial review claim challenging the lower standard allowance in universal credit for lone parents who are under 25.

Current Test case UK Universal credit

Test case

EU pre-settled status

Fratila and Tanase v SSWP CO/3632/2019: On 15 October 2019, CPAG were granted permission by the High Court to bring judicial review proceedings on behalf of two EU nationals who were refused universal credit on the basis that their limited leave to remain in the UK under Appendix EU to the immigration rules (pre-settled status) was not a qualifying right of residence for the purposes of means-tested benefits.

Benefits for people from abroad Current Test case UK Universal credit

Test case

Benefit cap and those paid 4 weekly

Pantellerisco and others v SSWP CO/3572/2019: On 12 September 2019, CPAG issued judicial review proceedings on behalf of a single parent and her children challenging the application of the benefit cap to the mother’s universal credit award despite the fact that she works 16 hours per week at national minimum wage simply because she is paid 4 weekly rather than monthly.

Benefit cap Current Test case UK Universal credit Work and pay

Test case

Universal Credit (UC) for 19 year olds in full-time, non-advanced education

This case is a challenge to the UC rules that prevent certain 19 year olds that are in full-time, non-advanced education from being included in their parents’ claim, while they are also prevented from claiming UC in their own right.

Current Test case UK

Test case

Bereavement Support Payments for Unmarried Parents

Jackson & Others v SSWP CO/975/2019: This case challenges the requirement under the Pensions Act 2014 in conjunction with the Bereavement Support Payment Regulations 2017 that, in order to be entitled to Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) at the higher rate, the claimant must have been the deceased’s spouse or civil partner.

Current Test case UK

Test case

Widowed Parent's Allowance where there has been a religious ceremony

This case concerns entitlement to Widowed Parent’s Allowance (WPA) where the claimant and the deceased partner had undergone a religious ceremony and considered themselves to be and held themselves out as being legally married. The First tier Tribunal found that the claimant had no entitlement to WPA, and permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal was refused, first by the FtT and then, on renewal, by the UT itself. Following a successful Cart style judicial review of the decision not to allow permission to appeal, the case has been remitted to the UT for a decision on the WPA entitlement.

Current Test case UK

Test case

Disability Living Allowance 2 year Past Presence Test for returning British Citizens

These cases challenge the legality of the new past presence test (PPT), which requires a person to have been in the UK for 104 of the past 156 weeks before being eligible to claim Disability Living Allowance. Permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal has now been granted in both cases.

Current Test case UK

Test case

Universal credit assessment period inflexibility

This case concerns a judicial review challenging the rigidity of the assessment period regime under universal credit (UC) and the way that earned income is calculated. The strict application of the assessment period dates/ treatment of earned income as those wages earned in an assessment period even if they were earned in a different assessment period means that some people are treated as receiving two monthly wages in one assessment period, which affects the amount of their UC award and results in the loss of the benefit of the work allowance in respect of one month's salary.

Current Test case UK Universal credit

Test case

Revised benefit cap

R (DS and Others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2019] UKSC 21: This case concerned a judicial review challenging the revised, lower benefit cap, introduced in 2016. The appeal was brought on behalf of two single mothers who are affected by the cap due to their caring responsibilities. One of the claimants has children with significant health needs while the other has previously fled domestic violence. The appeal in this case was heard on 17-19 July 2018 by a 7 judge panel of the Supreme Court alongside that of R(DA and Others) v SSWP. Judgment was given on 15 May 2019 finding that cap did not unlawfully discriminate against lone parents with children under 5 and their children. CPAG are now considering taking this matter to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. We are looking for new claimants for this next step of the challenge and would appreciat any suitable referrals via our test case pages of suitable families affected by the cap, particularly where there is no DHP in place.

Current Test case UK