People on legacy benefits could be due £1,500 back payments as legal team wins right to appeal

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The legal team representing four legacy benefits claimants’ who lost a High Court challenge in February over the £20 weekly Universal Credit uplift have confirmed that an application to appeal the decision has been successful.William Ford QC shared the update on the Osbornes Law website, offering a glimmer of hope for more than two million people on older-style benefits who could be due more than £1,500 in backdated payments - if the case is successful.

The win means that the appeal will now proceed to be heard by the Court of Appeal.Mr Ford wrote: “On 18 February 2022 the High Court dismissed the case brought by Osbornes on behalf of 4 claimants challenging the UK Government’s failure to apply the £20 per week uplift to legacy benefit recipients that had been provided to Universal Credit claimants during the Covid-19 pandemic.”He continued: “The claimants sought permission to appeal that decision from the High Court.

We can now confirm that on 3 August 2022 the Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal.“We will aim to provide any further relevant updates as the case progresses.”People on Universal Credit received a £20 weekly increase from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from April 2020 to October 2021 to help them pay for additional costs incurred during the global health crisis and subsequent lockdowns.However, the uplift was not extended to more than two million people on older benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) - which campaign groups said disproportionately affected disabled people.Four claimants brought a challenge to the High Court in November 2021 in relation to the UK Government's failure to apply a similar increase to legacy