A government consultation on restricting access to disability benefits was ‘so unfair as to be unlawful’, the High Court ruled today, putting £1.3 billion a year of benefit savings in doubt.
The Work Capability Assessment is the gateway to Universal Credit health benefits and up to £4,900 a year for recipients. The Tories planned to change parts of the assessment relating to moving around and getting out of the house to take account of the rise of home and flexible working. Reforms were due to start from September this year, growing to affect 420,000 people who would be assessed as having a less severe level of incapacity, and another 30,000 who would be found to be fit for work. Currently, two-thirds of claimants are found to have more severe incapacity, up from 45 per cent before the pandemic.
Ellen Clifford, who brought the case, argued that the consultation hadn’t explained that the changes were about saving money rather than improving employment support, didn’t adequately disclose that claimants may get less money and that the eight-week consultation period was too short. The court agreed that it was inadequately explained, rushed and not transparent.
The changes were announced by the Tories in autumn 2023 and consulted on then. In her Budget in October, Rachel Reeves said ‘we will deliver those savings’. But that now looks unlikely – and spending is likely to grow even faster than expected, with health and disability benefits spending already set to pass £100 billion a year.
Liz Kendall is due to publish and start consulting on proposals to reform or replace the WCA this spring. She wants to create a system that ‘moves away from binary categories of fit for work, or not fit for work’ in order to get more people into employment and save money. But that kind of comprehensive reform will take years to implement – especially against the kind of resistance seen today.
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