Universal credit: Case law
In this section you will find the main universal credit case law.
- CUC/1773/2018 - Capital from a former home can be disregarded if it is 'more likely than not' that it will be used for a new home.
- CUC/2777/2019 - ESA case law relating to requirement for DWP to provide tribunals with evidence of work-related activity available in area where claimant lives applies equally to universal credit.
- CUC/1617/2019 - Whether income support including a disability premium is ‘paid on grounds of incapacity for work or disability’ / whether income support is extinguished or suspended where claimant is imprisoned.
- CUC/1389/2019 - Considers a UC claim made online that was ‘closed' for non-attendance for interview to discuss self-employment and the claimant’s subsequent appeal without having obtained a mandatory reconsideration (that the First-tier Tribunal refused to admit).
- CUC/968/2019 - Whether a defective claim for UC is made at point where claimant starts but does not complete process of entering information on online claim form, for the purposes of establishing a date of claim.
- CSUC/55/2019 - Claimant with permanent right to reside is 'in GB' for the purposes of basic entitlement condition even when not falling within any of the situations in regulation 9(4) of the UC Regulations 2013.
- CUC/2274/2018 - Claimant's view that it would be pointless to apply for a vacancy does not amount to a good reason for failing to apply for a vacancy as directed by the Secretary of State.
- CUC/1276/2018 - A tax credits case that considers the transition from tax credits to UC and whether the decision to end a CTC claim by HMRC (following a stop notice from DWP) is correct when a claimant had made a claim for UC by mistake and never received an award.
- CUC/1067/2018 - The judge makes two points. First, without deciding the issue, it is inherent in the nature of a notification that can lead to a sanction for failure to comply that it does not take effect unless and until it is received. Second, he decides that the notion of good reason does not allow a person who was not aware of a letter of notification to be made subject to a sanction
- CUC/50/2018 and CUC/51/2018 - The decision contains a comparison of the grounds for recovery of an overpayment in social security benefits generally and UC.
- CUC/1974/2017 - Failure by a First-tier Tribunal to exercise its enabling and inquisitorial jurisdiction amounts to an error of law
- CUC/1808/2017 - Consideration must be given as to whether the 35 hour work search requirement should be reduced or lifted
- CUC/533/2017 - Whether claimant responsible for child - child staying with godparent near college but also staying alternate weekends with father. Whether "normally living with" means living with the claimant for longer than with any other person - CFC/1537/1995 considered - whether test for family credit legislation also applies to Universal Credit Regulations - where child normally lives with different adults in two different places, the main responsibility test must be applied
- CUC/166/2017 - Secretary of State concedes that where an employer fails to notify earnings on time, a universal credit award may be adjusted to make appropriate amendments
- CUC/2924/2016 - A lacuna in right to reside law must be found in EU law and not in domestic benefit law / A mistake to focus exclusively on EU law, whether to identify whether the law as a whole is deficient or to find a solution to the perceived problem
- CUC/2385/2016 - Whether a room needs to be able to accommodate a separate bedside table and clothes storage to be classed as a bedroom
- CUC/2058/2016 - Whether official computer system inoperative
- CUC/1653/2016 - ‘Good cause’ case law applies to consideration of ‘good reason’ / ignorance of law is capable of founding ‘good reason’ for failure to carry out work-related requirement
- CUC/2888/2015 – This case explores whether earnings which are for work done before the assessment period but received in the ‘assessment period’ are to be taken into account as earned income
Judgments of the higher courts
- Caine, R (On the Application Of) v Department For Work And Pensions [2020] EWHC 2482 (Admin( (23 September 2020) - High Court rules that the formulae for converting weekly rents to a monthly value for the purposes of calculating universal credit entitlement are neither irrational nor unlawful
- Pantellerisco and Ors (R on the application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2020] EWHC 1944 (Admin) (20 July 2020) - High Court rules that universal credit benefit cap earnings assessment is irrational and unlawful in case of a four-weekly paid claimant
- Secretary of State for Work And Pensions v Johnson & Ors [2020] EWCA Civ 778 (22 June 2020) - Court of Appeal rules that Work and Pensions Secretary acted irrationally and unlawfully by failing to adapt earned income assessment rules to account for impact on certain universal credit claimants >> More universal credit case law
- TD & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work And Pensions [2020] EWCA Civ 618 (12 May 2020), - Court of Appeal rules that failure to provide transitional protection for claimants who transferred to universal credit following incorrect legacy benefit decision was unlawful
- AR & SXC, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2020] EWCA Civ 37 (29 January 2020) - Court of Appeal upholds High Court judgments that failure to protect income of severely disabled claimants migrating to universal credit is unlawful
- TD & Ors v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2019] EWHC 462 (Admin) (1 March 2019) - High Court rules that failure to provide transitional protection for claimants who transferred to universal credit following incorrect legacy benefit decision was not unlawful
- R (on the application of Johnson and others) v Secretary of State For Work and Pensions [2019] EWHC 23 (Admin) (11 January 2019) - High Court rules that DWP’s method of assessing earned income under universal credit is unlawful
- TP and AR, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2018] EWHC 1474 (Admin) (14 June 2018) - High Court rules that government's failure to protect benefit rates for severely disabled people migrating to universal credit is unlawful
- SC & Ors v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions & Ors [2018] EWHC 864 (Admin) (20 April 2018) - High Court rules that the two child limit is compatible with the ECHR, but allows claim in relation to the lawfulness of the kinship care exception
Last reviewed/updated 28 August 2020