More than 13,000 severely disabled people will start receiving back payments this week (Picture: PA)

More than 13,000 severely disabled people who lost benefits after being put on Universal Credit will finally start receiving back payments this week.

Work and Pensions secretary Amber Rudd has put through urgent laws which mean claimants will start receiving £405 a month from this Wednesday.

The refunds, which will pay back claimants the Severe Disability Premiums they lost, will start from the date the person was first moved to the Universal Credit system.

New laws also mean 10,000 people currently on the old benefits system will now be switched to Universal Credit on a trial basis this summer.


This time, those transitioning between the systems will be ‘carefully supported’ by the Department of Work and Pensions, Rudd said.



The trial claimants will receive a discretionary hardship fund payment, an advance payment, and an extra two weeks of housing benefit during the move, she said.

The laws have been introduced after a High Court ruled the DWP unlawfully discriminated against two men by leaving them worse off in June 2018.

Rudd rushed the laws through Parliament (Picture: PA)

As a result, the Government stopped people on Severe Disability Premiums joining the Universal Credit system in January earlier this year.

Those who had already been moved onto the system were then promised back payments of £360 a month, which was then raised to £405 after the DWP lost another High Court challenge.

However, Rudd has been criticised for pushing the legislation through Parliament at the ’11th hour’ by using an obscure emergency law.

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MPs will be unable to vote on whether to approve the changes, due to the fast-track way in which they were passed.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood demanded the Commons gets a say, stating that ‘any less would be an absolute disgrace’.

She added that MPs must have be given time to scrutinise the laws, amid fears the thousands of people being added to the system could be pushed into using food banks.

But Rudd said the Government had consulted experts on the Social Security Advisory Committee in lieu of a vote.

The claimants will receive £405 a month (Picture: Getty Images)

Instead, MPs will be able to hold a debate shortly before Universal Credit is rolled out fully from next summer, she said.

She said: ‘I am absolutely committed to ensuring that the managed migration is handled in such a way that nobody loses their benefits.’

Frank Field, Chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, questioned why it had taken so long to ‘get to this position’, criticising previous Universal Credit failings.

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He said: ‘In the history of humankind, has there ever been an example of a Government introducing a fundamental welfare reform and none of its employees being able to tell if it will leave people better or worse off?

‘The UC application page needs to come with a health warning, and anyone who gets inadvertently caught in DWP’s lobster pot should be compensated.’



The committee reported today that many claimants saw a fall in their entitlement when they moved to Universal Credit, with an average loss of £59 a week, or around £3,000 a year.

Cases referred to included a man with an anxiety disorder who had moved himself onto the system after hearing a radio advert and assuming he had to apply for the change.

The Universal Credit system has been described as a lobster pot (Picture: PA Wire)

In reality, it was not necessary for him to make the change – and doing so resulted in he and his wife receiving £400 less a month in benefits.

The committee said: ‘Given how difficult it is to work out when a move to Universal Credit is required, it is little wonder that some claimants find themselves trapped in the department’s chillingly-named “lobster pot”, either by their own mistake or by following incorrect advice from the department’s own staff or other organisations.

‘By the department’s own admission, this can leave claimants in some cases with substantial losses in income, unable to return to legacy benefits.

‘While it is welcome that the department has said it will compensate claimants who move to Universal Credit following incorrect advice from its staff, this commitment does not go far enough.’

A DWP spokeswoman said: ‘Universal Credit helps people into work faster than the old system and provides targeted support.

‘Around one million disabled households will gain an average of £100 more a month, and changes to work allowances mean 2.4 million households will be up to £630 per year better off.’

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