Disability Law

This is not a usual query but I'm lookingfor Acts, and relevant Case Law (Supreme Court preferably) regarding PIP, Bedroom Tax and possibly ESA. My daughter is trying to write an entry for the Supreme Court Essay Competition for sixth form students. The topic she has chosen is relating to whether the Law has done enough to avoid discrimination in minority groups. She is planning to structure her essay around PIP and the Bedroom Tax which both have Supreme Court Judgements relationg to them. She has located the social support one and one on the bedroom Tax.

She will have to know the Acts themselves and relevant Case Law and googling for them is very confusing.Have you any ideas? The Essays are marked by Supreme Court Judges and the winner has tea with Lady Hale.Perhaps her Essay would inform and questionexisting opinions.! My daughter is very persuasive!

Hello Dart,

I agree with BIS that your daughter should concentrate on one benefit such as PIP:

1. Marc Perlic’s case law pack is an excellent source from which to start: www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3959-50-o...caselaw-pack-out-now

2. Documents 2013-19 concerning PIP following the Welfare Reform Act 2011 can be found on this government website: www.legislation.gov.uk/all?title=persona...dependence%20payment

3. Hansard records multiple references to PIP: beta.parliament.uk/search?q=hansard+pers...independence+payment

4. And there’s this from the HoC library: researchbriefings.parliament.uk/Research...fing/Summary/SN06538

I half wonder whether your daughter might do well to focus on a specific type of claimant. For example, does the law protect the physically disabled claimant better that the claimant with mental health or cognitive issues? Or how does the claimant with a rare medical condition fare in law by comparison with claimants with well documented conditions that were probably to the forefront of the legislators’ minds?

It’s been many years since I have last had contact with the library staff of either House but back in the day an email always received a prompt response.

I wish your daughter every success. She sounds an amazing young woman.

Mari

Thanks BIS and Mari so much. Your links will be so useful. My daughter would prefer to consider one benefit as she only has 1000-1500 wordsBUT she needs to use 2 Supreme Court Judgments in her argument. She would like to focus on PIP ( she has been helping me a lot with my PIP2) but can only find one suitable Judgment regarding the Social Support issue. The going out/psychological distress rulingwas High Court.She would still use this one but is short of one Supreme Court one.She was researching the Welfare reform Act 2012 last night....

Hello again Dart,

I went through to the Supreme Court website this morning and used their search engine as well as Google. I cannot find a PIP case other that what your daughter already has.

However, there have been at least these four cases to do with the Bedroom Tax:
www.disabilityrightsuk.org/bedroom-tax-s...court-decision-cases
As you know, this welfare change has belted claimants of disability benefits and claimants in receipt of various means-tested benefits so it could prove a worthwhile focus for a meaty essay.

I suggest your daughter starts by deciding the cases she want to use and other cases to which she might want to make brief reference. This will determine which Acts and parliamentary procedures are necessary to read and refer to in the essay. A maximum length of 1500 words is not generous and leaves no place for anything that’s not bang on topic!

All the best,

Mari

PS. Check whether footnotes are included in the word limit.