The seminar looked at using the law and research to expose and challenge discrimination in the welfare benefits system, including:
- An overview of discrimination in welfare benefits with examples of direct and indirect discrimination.
- Work Rights Centre’s work with PLP on benefit suspensions and automated decision making
- Recent cases involving discrimination in welfare benefits including for Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries and bereaved widows of disabled people.
- Disability denial and how that plays a central role within the design of the benefit system and welfare “reform” agenda. From that naturally flows a system with entrenched disability discrimination.
You can find the links to slides and STTR transcript here: Delegate pack – Discrimination in Welfare Benefits Seminar
Links to resources:
- Government response to the consultation on changes to the Work Capability Assessment
- Green paper consulting on changes to Personal Independence Payment
- Information about Adult Disability Payment (what Scotland is replacing PIP with): [NB the application process is not as different from PIP as Disabled campaigners in Scotland hoped for but it will be interesting to see for example what difference in-house as opposed to out-sourced assessments make]
- White Paper Transforming Support: health and disability white paper
- RF v Secretary of State for Work And Pensions [2017] EWHC 3375 (Admin) (21 December 2017) (bailii.org)
- MM & DM, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (14 December 2013 )(bailii.org)
