Another claimant has inflicted an important defeat on the DWP in the High Court, this time in relation to the department unlawfully paying his rent directly to his landlord without the claimant having any say in the matter.
Less than a fortnight ago we reported that a claimant had won a judicial review of the way the DWP consulted about changes to the work capability assessment, meaning that in the future the DWP will have to be much more honest about the effects of changes to benefits.
This week, claimant Nathan Roberts won his own High Court case in which he challenged the DWP’s right to pay rent direct to his landlord without consulting him, even though he was withholding his rent because of the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs. The ruling will affect many thousands of claimants in the future.
Roberts was in dispute with his landlord, Guinness Partnership Trust over failure to carry out repairs. The landlords applied to the DWP for his rent to be paid directly from Roberts’ universal credit (UC) and for an additional £44 a month to be deducted towards arrears.
At the instruction of DWP software, with a single click of a mouse button and without either the landlord or the DWP informing Roberts, the deductions were put in place.
Roberts challenged the decision, arguing that he did not owe the landlord the money that was being deducted. The DWP dismissed his challenge but then performed an abrupt u-turn a few days later when they learnt that Roberts had begun legal action.
However, Roberts continued with his High Court appeal in order to establish that all UC claimants have the right to be consulted by the DWP before it begins deducting their money and paying it to a third party.
Happily, the judge agreed with Roberts, finding that the process excluded and disempowered tenants and was unlawful.
In future the DWP will have to consult individually with claimants before making any such deductions.
Read the full story on the Bindmans solicitors website and also in the Guardian.
