DWP drops Supreme Court appeal over disabled children ‘bedroom tax’

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced that the Secretary of State has decided to drop his pursuit of an appeal at the Supreme Court on a case he had lost at the Court of Appeal.

The case, represented by Child Poverty Action Group, was Richard Gorry v (1) Wiltshire Council (2) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

CPAG is the leading charity campaigning for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children.

It is the host organisation for the Campaign to End Child Poverty, which has over 150 member organisations and is campaigning for public and political commitment to ensure the goal of ending child poverty by 2020 is met.

The Court of Appeal ruled on 15 May 2012 that the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) size criteria discriminated unlawfully against the children in the Gorry family on grounds of disability. The Court judged that children with severe disabilities – in this case a child with spina bifida and another with Down’s Syndrome – could not always be expected to share a bedroom because of additional needs related to their disability.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions applied to the Supreme Court to appeal the decision on 25 May 2012. However, today’s ‘urgent bulletin’ for Benefit Authorities announced that he will no longer be pursuing the appeal at the Supreme Court.

While this specific case was for a private rental housing benefit claim, the bulletin confirms the decision is also relevant to families with social sector tenants who stood to be affected by the ‘bedroom tax’, or social sector under-occupancy penalty.

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

“This is a tremendous victory for disabled children and it’s a victory for common sense.

“In the case Child Poverty Action Group represented, it was clearly not possible for a child with spina bifida and another with Down Syndrome to share a bedroom together with such different demands and needs. It’s absolutely right that the housing benefit system should respond to challenges like this, and it is clear discrimination if it does not.

“Even with today’s decision on severely disabled children, disabled people will still be amongst the hardest hit by the bedroom tax, with £300 million being cut from their housing support. The bedroom tax is surely one of the cruellest cuts of all and should be scrapped altogether.”

For further information visit www.cpag.org.uk