Leigh Day

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has lost its appeal against an earlier victory for four working single mothers challenging the rigidity of the Universal Credit (UC) system for calculating their earnings.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the UK Government’s appeals against two previous court judgments which found that the secretary of state for work and pensions had unlawfully discriminated against thousands of severely disabled people who moved onto Universal Credit.

An appeal is to be heard in the UK's highest court on Wednesday in an important constitutional case on the powers of specialist tribunals and local authorities relating to the 'bedroom tax'.

Four working single mothers have secured a High Court victory against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for the operation of its Universal Credit benefits scheme. The court found on Friday that the way the DWP has been assessing income from employment through its Universal Credit work asses