Welfare Benefits Law

Expert representation for society’s most vulnerable in cases up to the European Court of Human Rights.

To contact the Welfare Benefits Clerks, please email copclerks@gclaw.co.uk or phone

+44 (0)20 7993 7600

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Access to welfare benefits affect millions of people, including some of the most vulnerable members of society.

Our Welfare Benefits Team is committed to defending the rights of those in need, either by taking on test cases or by providing urgent relief by way of judicial review to individual claimants who are facing destitution or the loss of their home.

Our barristers provide representation in the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber), Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, Administrative Court, European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights.

Our expertise across the spectrum of social security law ensures that our barristers are particularly well-suited to act in cases involving the interaction of welfare benefits with other disciplines, such as housing law, EU law, human rights, discrimination and public law challenges

public funding

Despite the cuts to legal aid under LASPO, public funding is still available for the above types of work. For further details see: Use it or lose it: welfare benefits available on the LAG website.

The impact of welfare reform

Access to welfare benefits affects millions of people, including some of the most vulnerable members of society, as “a social security case may well involve the right of a claimant to subsistence income and so directly affect their access to the most fundamental necessities of life” (per Dyson LJ, Wiles v Social Security Commissioner & Anr [2010] EWCA Civ 258).

It had generally been assumed that welfare benefits were designed to provide a guarantee of a basic level of entitlement for those unable to support themselves and to provide a safety net for the vulnerable. The programme of welfare reform introduced in 2010 onwards has undermined this principle. Many claimants are being left with little or no income for significant periods of time due to a combination of delays, conditionality and sanctions. The rollout of universal credit has compounded these problems.
Garden Court Chambers is committed to addressing these issues, be it by taking on test cases or by providing urgent relief to individual claimants who are facing destitution or the loss of their home, by way of judicial review.

publications and training

Members of our Welfare Benefits Team co-author the annual Housing Benefit Update in the Legal Action Group’s magazine and are contributors to the welfare benefits sections in Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice and The Housing Law Handbook (Law Society). Members of the Team regularly provide training to a range of organisations including the Housing Law Practitioners Association, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, the AIRE Centre, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

 

Recent Notable Cases & News

Garden Court Chambers celebrates 50th Anniversary

This year marks 50 years of Garden Court Chambers winning ground-breaking cases of constitutional importance.

Friday 31 May 2024

School Inclusion Project, Ollie Persey and the Case of Finch v Surrey County Council shortlisted at LexisNexis Legal Awards 2025

We are delighted to announce that the School Inclusion Project has been shortlisted for The Halsbury Award for Rule of Law, the case of Finch v Surrey County Council [2024] UKSC 20 has been shortlisted for Case of the Year and Ollie Persey has been shortlisted for Legal Personality of the Year at the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2025.

Thursday 16 Jan 2025

Tribunal rules amended to reflect Court of Appeal ruling that mandatory reconsideration by HMRC is not precondition of appealing a tax credits decision

The intention of the amended rule is to better reflect the Court of Appeal's ruling in Commissioners for HMRC v Arrbab [2024] EWCA Civ 16, [2024] 3 WLR 295. Desmond Rutledge and Ollie Persey of Garden Court represented the Respondent, Mr Arrbab.

Monday 16 Dec 2024

Disabled Woman Wins £34,000 Benefits Case

Desmond Rutledge and Matthew Ahluwalia of the Garden Court Community Care Team represented Ramona at the Tribunal, instructed by Sam O’Flaherty of Osbornes Law.

Monday 14 Oct 2024

Legal team acting in landmark Court of Appeal tax credit case win Citizens Advice award

Desmond Rutledge and Ollie Persey of Garden Court Chambers represented the Respondent, Mr Arrbab in the Court of Appeal.

Thursday 25 Apr 2024

Justine Compton appointed full-time Judge in Social Entitlement Chamber

We are delighted to announce that Justine Compton has been appointed a Judge in the First Tier Tribunal, Social Entitlement Chamber.

Friday 5 Apr 2024

Past Notable Cases

 

R(DA) and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2017] EWHC 1446 (Admin) – Benefit Cap
Whether unlawful discrimination, in so far as it applied to lone parents with children under the age of two

Court of Justice finds that self-employed women have maternity rights
C-544/18 HMRC v Dakneviciute, held that self-employed EEA nationals are entitled to a right of residence and entitled to welfare benefits (such as child benefit, tax credits, homelessness assistance, social housing and other related benefits) during their maternity leave.

Birmingham City Council & Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v SS and SA (Roshni intervener) [2016] EWCA Civ 1211, [2017] AACR 8 – Housing benefit
Whether rent charged by a women’s refuge was unreasonably high by comparison with rent charged by publicly funded charities

GN v Sevenoaks Borough Council (HB) [2016] UKUT 271 – Housing Benefit
Property subject to a confiscation order

Sanneh v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Others [2015] EWCA Civ 49, [2016] QB 455, [2015] 2 CMLR 27 – Income Support
‘the rights of Zambrano’ carers – prior to amendments to the habitual residence test in November 2012

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v SF [2015] UKUT 502 (AAC), [2016] AACR 16 – Income Support – EEA workers
Extent of the rights under C-507/12 Saint Prix

Burnip v Birmingham City Council & Anor [2012] EWCA Civ 629, [2012] HRLR 20, [2013] AACR 7 – Housing Benefit
LHA rules as applied to the disabled in breach of Article 14 of the ECHR under the Thlimmenos principle

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Payne and Anor [2011] UKSC 60, [2012] 2 AC 1
Income Support and the Social Fund

Whether the Secretary of State has the power to recoup a social security debt when it is subject to a Debt Relief Order

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Maria Dias (C-325/09) [2011] 3 CMLR 40; [2012] All E.R. (EC) 199; [2011] Imm AR 855 – Income Support
Whether periods of residence completed prior to the transposition of Directive 2004/38/EC contribute to the acquisition of the right to permanent residence

Malekout v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2010] EWCA Civ 162, [2010] AACR 28 – Income Support
Early retirement pension taken under the NHS Pension Scheme following a personal injury – whether the disregard for personal injury applied

Novitskaya v London Borough of Brent and another [2009] EWCA Civ 1260 [2010] AACR 6 – Housing Benefit
Whether a claim can be made without using explicit words to indicate that a claim for housing benefit is being made

R (Gargett) v London Borough of Lambeth [2008] EWCA Civ 1450, [2009] PTSR 1434 – Discretionary Housing Payment
Whether a claimant could be entitled to a discretionary housing payment for a past period if they are currently in receipt of maximum Housing Benefit

Rowley & Ors v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2007] EWCA Civ 598, [2007] 1 WLR 2861 – Child Support
Whether the Secretary of State owed a common law duty of care in negligence to an applicant for child support under the Child Support Act 1991

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Bhakta [2006] EWCA Civ 65 – Income Support
Habitual residence test and the use of the advanced awards provisions

R (National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shot Firers) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2003] EWHC 607 (Admin) – Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Whether the DWP’s failure to issue guidance on the use of the ‘Cold Water Provocation Test’ in relation to prescribed industrial injuries disease PDA11 (vibration white finger) was unlawful

Cooke v Secretary of State for Social Security [2001] EWCA Civ 734, [2002] 3 All ER 279 – Disability Living Allowance
Correct test for appeal to Court of Appeal from Social Security Commissioner and other specialist tribunals

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