A ‘big society’ scheme born out of legal aid cuts has won back £1m in benefits for sick and disabled clients wrongly assesssed as able to work

Almost all of the 200 “fit for work“ test appeals undertaken by a student volunteer project have been won, providing more evidence of the unreliability of the government’s controversial work capability assessment (WCA).

The programme was created by Avon and Bristol Law centre, two years ago using a handpicked team of law students to fill the gap created by legal aid cuts in 2013. Legal aid has all but disappeared for welfare benefits work.

The centre revealed this week that the students have won 95% of the appeals they took to Bristol’s Social security and Child Support tribunal, successfully reinstating £1m of benefits for ill and disabled clients wrongly assessed by the WCA as able to work.

Most of those clients who turned to the Avon and Bristol project after being found fit for work had mental health problems or severe physical illness.

According to the law centre, the national average success rate for WCA appeals is 59%. Around 44% of those who appeal receive no professional or legal represention. But the Avon case provides more evidence that where they do, the chances of overturning the original decision increase hugely.

In 2014 the Guardian reported on a Big Lottery-funded scheme run by Oxfordshire Mind which achieved a 98% success rate for clients appealing fit-for-work rulings.

The WCA has proved hugely controversial since its introduction under the last Labour government. It was expanded rapidly under the Coalition where the tests, then run by Atos, became notorious for causing stress and harm for many who undergo it. It has been dogged by huge administrative delays and appeal backlogs.



Avon and Bristol law centre director Clare Carter told the Guardian she had no doubt that the 95% figure reflected the basic unreliability of the fit for work test:

It speaks for itself. There is clearly a problem with the [WCA] decision-making process.

In what is in some way a classic “big society” project, the centre recruits and supervises around 10 law students each year from the University of the West of England and the University of Law. It trains them in all aspects of the appeal work, from the initial meeting with the client, to gathering evidence for written submissions, to representing clients at the tribunal.

Emma Vincent Miller, 22, a recent University of Law graduate, and a volunteer on the scheme, said she had represented seven clients at the appeal tribunal, winning all of the cases. Successful clients typically got a £5,000 rebate.

Most cases were “borderline”, says Vincent Miller, but in two instances she considered it was “ridiculous” that her clients had failed the test, given their parlous physical or mental condition:

I thought: how can they have they have got through a healthcare assessment, let alone be told they are fit for work

The scheme enabled the law centre to help more people appeal.

According to Avon and Bristol law centre benefits advisor Andy King the scheme enabled the law centre to help more people appeal:

Our students have provided much needed legal help to over 200 vulnerable individuals who wouldn’t know where to start in challenging the decision that they are fit for work. Due to the cuts in legal aid, we could only help a tiny fraction of that number without the law students.

However, the £22,000 a year funding for the scheme from the a charitable foundation will run out next year, with no guarantee that it will be renewed. Then, says Carter, the project’s future is uncertain

Client Elaine Simmons said she would not have won her appeal without the students’ help. She said it made her