Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Universal credit claimants unlawfully discriminated against win five-figure damages
SAM TOBIN reports from the High Court
Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey

WORK and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey must pay damages to two severely disabled men who lost £170 a month when they were moved onto universal credit (UC).

The pair will be paid a total of just over £11,000 to compensate their financial losses and the resultant “mental suffering, distress, anxiety, humiliation and disruption to life,” the High Court heard today.

Last month, the High Court ruled that the two men were unlawfully discriminated against as they were moved onto UC simply because they moved between local authority areas.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
universal credit
Universal credit / 25 November 2025
25 November 2025

DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families

A Universal Credit sign on a door of a job centre plus in ea
Features / 12 September 2025
12 September 2025

A new report from the Citizens Advice destroys the government narrative about disabled people ‘choosing’ not to work, showing the £3,000 annual cuts will create a two-tiered system based on claim dates rather than needs, writes DYLAN MURPHY

Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners s
Britain / 17 March 2025
17 March 2025