The DWP under Labour are fighting in the High Court to defend a Tory consultation con about proposed changes to the work capability assessment (WCA). Their vigorous support for misleading Tory tactics raises question marks about what deceptions Labour have planned for their benefits Green Paper, due to be published in the Spring.
In September 2023, the Conservative government launched a short, eight week consultation on a variety of possible changes to the WCA. The proposals were presented as a way to help more disabled claimants into work.
In November 2023, the government published its response to the consultation and set out changes to the activities and descriptors in the WCA which would make it harder for new claimants to be found to have limited capability for work-related activity.
The Office for Budget Responsibility then revealed that whilst 450,000 new claimants would be over £400 a month worse off as a result of the changes, just 15,400 would find jobs by 2029. In other words almost 97% of those affected would be worse off.
Disability campaigner Ellen Clifford launched a judicial review of the consultation last year, on the grounds that people talking part in the consultation were not given enough information to give an informed response, but were instead misled into believing that the changes were about helping people into work.
In particular, the failure by the DWP to carry out any employment or disability impact assessment before consulting made the process unfair. The DWP, however, did look at 300 WCAs that had already been carried out to get some idea of how much money they would save, but did not make this information public.
When Labour came to power they could have simply conceded the case, accepting that the consultation was unfair and that its results could not be relied upon.
As Labour say they are going to devise their own changes to the WCA and publish a Green Paper in the Spring for consultation, that would have been the end of the matter. There would have been no need to rerun the unfair Tory consultation.
Instead, the DWP under Labour have fought the case tooth and nail. When a High Court judge ordered the DWP to disclose documents to Clifford’s team at the Public Law Project, the DWP refused and tried to get the order overturned.
That attempt failed and the DWP had to hand over the documents, but even then the judge said they were worried that the DWP was interpreting the grounds of the judicial review very narrowly so as to avoid disclosing other relevant documents.
The case was finally heard on 10 and 11 December 2024 and the decision will be announced in the New Year.
But, whatever the result, the vigour with which the DWP under Labour fought to defend dodgy Tory tactics is a cause for real concern.
It may be, as some have suggested that Labour plan to make very similar cuts to the WCA, and that is why they tried to uphold the consultation.
But there is another, perhaps more likely explanation.
What Labour are seeking to uphold is the idea that the DWP should be free to carry out consultations about changes to benefits without the need to be open or honest about what the real purpose or effects of those changes are.
They want the High Court to agree with the DWP that it is fine to work out how many people will be plunged into poverty only after a consultation has been completed and the decisions made.
If the High Court finds in favour of Clifford, however, the DWP may have to do some urgent rewriting of their Green Paper on changes to the health and disability benefits. Given that Labour have said they will match the £3bn in benefits cuts the Tories had planned, they may even have to tell the truth about how many people will lose out under their proposals.
