Disabled Student Launches Legal Case For Right To Claim Universal Credit

• Published date: 03 July 2020
• Subject Matter: Consumer Protection, Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Education
• Law Firm: Leigh Day
• Author: Lucy Cadd

A disabled student has launched a legal case against the government for the right to be able to claim universal credit. She claims that the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP) current policy, which prevents disabled students from claiming universal credit is unlawful.

Sidra Kauser, aged 22, from Halifax, suffers severe sight impairment and mental health difficulties. As a student in full time higher education at the University of York she is not entitled to universal credit.

She has a student loan but this does not even cover the cost of her tuition fees and rental accommodation. Instead, she is forced to live off her Personal Independence Payment, which is meant to be spent on the extra costs of living associated with her health conditions. She has '122 a month to live off, which has to pay for everything she needs, such as food and travel, clothing and socialising.

Sidra made an application for universal credit at the start of her master's course last year, following a deterioration in her health. The DWP refused to undertake a work capability assessment to determine her capability for work on the basis that she was a full-time student. Her application for universal credit was therefore rejected. She has now applied to the High Court for permission to judicially review the DWP's policy of refusing to assess the capability of full time students for work.

Sidra argues in her case that if she were granted a work capability assessment which would establish her limited capability for work under Regulation 14 (b) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, then she would be entitled to claim universal credit of between '540 and '680 a month.

Students in full time education are prevented from having the work capability assessment under the DWP's policy. This means that if whilst studying, an individual is left with limited capability to work because they are struck down by an illness or suffer from a deterioration of a pre-existing condition, they have no means to claim benefits.

However, if Sidra had been assessed as having limited capability for work and had been claiming universal credit before she went into full time education, then she would have been able to continue claiming the benefit while she was continuing her studies.

The DWP says the purpose of the policy is to encourage existing claimants with health conditions to take up education that may help them get into work in the future.

Sidra argues that the failure to carry out a work capability...