Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
4 single mums win court fight against unfair Universal Credit
Hated plan dealt another death blow But climbdown by Rudd ‘is not enough’
FOUR working single mums have dealt another killer blow to the Tories’ hated Universal Credit.
In a landmark case, judges agreed they had suffered huge, unfair payment cuts.
The women pointed out that if they were paid early because of a weekend or bank holiday, they were counted as having been paid twice in one month and got “vastly reduced” UC benefit.
Judges yesterday branded the situation “odd in the extreme” and “nonsensical”.
The High Court ruling came 10 minutes before Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd was forced to announce big reforms to the system.
Her climbdown came the day after she had to ditch a benefits cap on families with more than two children and followed her decision to delay switching three million people to the new system.
Under the changes announced yesterday, UC will go to a home’s “main carer”, ensuring women get the cash; landlords can take rent directly from benefits; there will be a trial of more regular payments for those who struggle to budget; parents won’t always need to pay for childcare up front; the two-child limit for youngsters born before April 2017 will be axed and MPS will delay moving more people to UC.
Speaking in South London, Ms Rudd admitted parts of the system – which aims to roll six existing benefits into one – were not “compassionate”. She vowed to restore UC as a “decent safety net” but ruled out an early end to overall benefit cuts of £3.9billion a year.
She said the four-year programme should not be renewed in 2020 but gave no guarantees. Campaigners and MPS slammed her for not going far enough.
The two-child limit will still apply to births after April 2017, leaving 700,000 families up to £2,780 worse off by 2035.
UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The limit is morally wrong and should be scrapped for everyone.”
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the freeze was “sweeping families into poverty” and Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine added: “It should end immediately.” The DWP is considering appealing against yesterday’s judicial review sought by Danielle Johnson, Claire Woods, Erin Barrett and Katie Stewart.
Solicitor Tessa Gregory told the hearing that dinner lady Danielle, from Keighley, West Yorks, was “a hard-working single mum” and “precisely the kind of person UC was meant to help”.
But the “rigid income assessment system” had left her £500 out of pocket over the year and spiralling into debt.
The Mirror has spearheaded the drive to halt UC but Ms Rudd shrugged off our heartbreaking stories.
After her speech she told us: “Some of the criticisms have been based on one or two individuals where the advice hasn’t worked. But for the vast majority, the sort of support is a completely different approach.
“Maybe things proposed previously weren’t effective or weren’t compassionate in the way I want them to be.”
But she insisted: “The overall product that is UC is absolutely compassionate.”