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Iain Duncan Smith’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) took an “unlawful and unacceptably long time” to pay new welfare benefits to two unnamed disabled people, a high court judge has ruled.
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has suffered legal embarrassment after a judge ruled that delays in the payment of disability benefits, which left two vulnerable claimants isolated, depressed and unable to afford food, were unacceptable and unlawful.
The judge was told at a recent hearing that vulnerable people have been forced to turn to loan sharks and food banks because of the delays in providing them with personal independence payments (Pips).
The high court heard that failures by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and its private contractors, Atos and Capita, left the seriously disabled claimants waiting months for the personal independence payment (PIP) support to which they were entitled, causing considerable and unneccessary distress.
The payments are replacing the disability living allowance (DLA) in a government overhaul of the benefits system. They are designed to help disabled adults meet the extra costs caused by disability.
Two claimants, Ms C and Mr W, asked Mrs Justice Patterson to declare that – because of the magnitude of the delay – Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, breached his common law and human rights duties to make payments within a reasonable time.
The judge ruled the delay in both cases was “not only unacceptable, as conceded by the defendant, but was unlawful”.
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The judge said in Ms C’s case the delay was 13 months, from 9 September 2013 until the determination of her benefit on 24 October 2014. In Mr W’s case the delay was 10 months, from 3 February 2014 until December 2014.
Their experiences were shared by hundreds of thousands of individuals who had waited for long periods for their claims to be processed, in some cases for more than a year, because of delays and backlogs to the Pip scheme since its phased introduction two years ago, the court heard.
Patterson said both cases had called for “expeditious consideration” as they both suffered significant disabilities. She said: “They were each to be regarded as the most vulnerable people in society.”
Mrs Justice Patterson ruled there had been a “breach of duty on the part of the secretary of state to act without unreasonable delay in determination of the claimant’s claims for Pip”.
The judge added: “There is a high duty on local authorities to act promptly, consistently and appropriately to recognise social welfare benefits. There can be no public interest in delays such as was the case here.”
However, she concluded that there had not been a breach of the claimants’ human rights and that the Pip system had shown “vast improvement” in recent months after the DWP and its contractors devoted huge resources to clearing the backlog.
Ms C, from Kent, has been diagnosed with ME and suffers from severe depression and other health problems. Speaking last month, she said: “The delay had a massive impact on my life. I applied for Pips so I could look after myself, but without it I could barely eat and only ever left my house for a weekly trip to a supermarket.
Pip, which will eventually replace disability living allowance (DLA), is a non-means-tested benefit introduced in 2013 to help with the additional costs of disability or chronic illness. It is not an employment-related benefit. An additional 1.5 million DLA recipients will be assessed for Pip from October.
“I was completely isolated during the nine months I was waiting for my payments. While my wait came to an end, it is worrying that many, many others have still not received a decision.”
Anne-Marie Irwin, the specialist public lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who led the cases, said: “This is a significant legal judgment. A huge number of vulnerable people have been left in the lurch as a result of unacceptable flaws in the Pip system.”
The minister for disabled people, Justin Tomlinson, said the department was working hard to process payments more quickly. He said: “We have taken decisive action to speed up Pip waiting times and we are pleased the court has recognised the huge progress made. The average new Pip claimant now waits only seven weeks for an assessment.
She added: “While the decision is undoubtedly welcome and emphasises the clear failings seen with this scheme, attention must now turn to rethinking the planned wider rollout in October until reassurances can be provided that the delays seen in the past are not repeated in the future.”
“The court has rightly dismissed the claimants’ absurd suggestion that their human rights had been breached. As a result, they are not entitled to damages.”
The minister for disabled people, Justin Tomlinson, said: “The court has rightly dismissed the claimants’ absurd suggestion that their human rights had been breached. As a result they are not entitled to damages.
Downing Street acknowledged there had been problems when Pips were first introduced.
“We have taken decisive action to speed up Pip waiting times and we are pleased the court has recognised the huge progress made. The average new Pip claimant now waits only seven weeks for an assessment.”
David Cameron’s spokeswoman said: “The government has taken steps to address this, bringing in 800 more staff, increasing the number of health professionals working on it, and we are now starting to see progress.”
Between April 2013 and the end of March 2015 742,800 new Pip claims were made, of which 130,000 were still outstanding. According to Irwin Mitchell, 12,600 claimants are still waiting after seven months and 3,200 have been waiting for more than a year.
The judgment is the latest setback for the DWP, which has also suffered from problems over the introduction of universal credit, but No 10 said the prime minister “fully supports” the approach it had taken.
One of the claimants, known as Ms C, was diagnosed with ME in 2009 and forced to give up work three years later. The court heard that the 27-year-old, who lives alone, suffered from severe vertigo, collapses and visual impairment, and rarely left her home. She was reliant on unemployment benefit and spent just £8 a week on food.
The spokeswoman said: “The department has a wide range of challenging policies and objectives to deliver, many of which are complex, and the PM fully supports the approach they have taken to look at where they can learn lessons and make changes to make more progress.
Although she made it clear her medical conditions made it difficult to travel, Atos twice told her to go to their office for a face-to-face assessment. On one occasion it threatened to cancel her Pip application if she did not attend. After 13 months’ delay, Ms C was assessed as eligible for enhanced rates of Pip and awarded £8,000 in backdated payments.
“The measures that they have brought in on Pip mean that claimants are now only waiting seven weeks for an assessment and the backlog is coming down.”
Meanwhile, Joanna Kennedy from Z2K – a London-based charity campaigning against unfairness in the benefits system, which intervened in the case – welcomed the decision. She said: “We are delighted that Mrs Justice Patterson has deemed the delay in processing Pip claims both unreasonable and unlawful, at the same time as recognising the crippling hardship caused by such delays.
“It is, however, disappointing that she decided against treating the claimants as test cases.”
In her ruling, the judge said it would be inappropriate to grant a declaration in wider terms covering other cases of late payments “because of the considerable variations in individual circumstances”.
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She added: “I do not think it is the role of the court to give guidance in a situation which has been evolving and with which the defendant now appears to be grappling in a way which is entirely appropriate.”
Patterson said in her judgment: “To require [Ms C] to attend a face-to-face assessment on two separate occasions was both inappropriate, causing her considerable distress, and was irrational in her circumstances.”
Elliot Dunster, speaking for the disability charity Scope, said: “This judgment demonstrates the importance of extra costs payments to disabled people. Life costs more if you are disabled. Scope research shows that this adds up to on average £550 per month. Extra costs can make it extremely hard for disabled people to pay the bills. Every day without them is another day unable to afford the essentials in life. It’s positive that delays have been dramatically reduced.
Ms C said after the ruling: “While my 13-month wait came to an end, thousands of people have not had the same luck. It is vital that the government makes sure that everyone affected in the past gets help and also that the system is fit for purpose before it is rolled out further.”
“As speculation grows about where the chancellor will find his promised £12bn savings from the welfare budget, disabled people are looking to him to protect the financial support they receive.”
Despite ministers promising that the application process for Pip would take just two and a half months, poor planning and over-optimistic assumptions about demand meant the system developed backlogs. A year after its introduction many applicants were waiting more than six months, a state of affairs a parliamentary committee described at the time as “nothing short of a fiasco”.
Richard Kramer, of the national deafblind charity Sense, said: “The legal ruling gives a human face to the significant levels of stress and suffering felt by disabled people as a result of system delays. The case is a reminder that there is some way to go before the system can be regarded as fit for purpose and customer-facing for all disabled people.”
The DWP has since been forced to hire 800 extra staff to deal with the delays, while Atos and Capita have quadrupled the number of clinicians they employ to carry out assessments, and opened more assessment centres.
Anne-Marie Irwin, the specialist public lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who acted for the disabled claimants, described the ruling as “a significant legal judgment”. She said: “A huge number of vulnerable people have been left in the lurch as a result of unacceptable flaws in the Pip system, with public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge in June last year calling the issues ‘nothing short of a fiasco’.
Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Delays to Pip assessments are unacceptably common. Over two years since [their] introduction they are still not fit for purpose.
“In February 2014, the National Audit Office found that the defendant had not fully assessed performance before starting national rollout of the new claims in June 2013. Today’s decision sends a clear message that the unacceptable delays faced by many people may also be unlawful.
“People are turning to local Citizens Advice in their thousands as they are left high and dry without the financial support they need to live with their health condition or disability.
“While the decision is undoubtedly welcome and emphasises the clear failings seen with this scheme, attention must now turn to rethinking the planned wider rollout in October until reassurances can be provided that the delays seen in the past are not repeated in the future.”
“Pip is a key part of our welfare system. It defies common decency that some disabled people are waiting months on end just to find out if they’re entitled to the necessary support.”
Irwin added: “We are now hoping to begin discussions with the DWP to establish a scheme to ensure anyone who experienced a delay which could be deemed unlawful is able to receive some form of effective redress without the need to take court action.”
