NI High Court declares different treatment of benefits claimants with terminal illness discriminatory
The High Court in Northern Ireland has found that to treat social security benefit claimants with varying terminal illnesses differently is discriminatory.
Lorraine Cox, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, challenged the ‘special rules’ which allow terminally ill claimants to quickly access benefits without the need for additional assessment and conditionality. Ms Cox was refused this fast-tracked access to benefits because she could not show that she was likely to die within six months. Ms Cox was represented by Law Centre NI, with support from the PILS Project.
In his judgement, Mr. Justice McAlinden described motor neurone disease as a “progressive neurological condition for which there is no effective treatment or cure. The progression of the illness is unpredictable but it would seem that 50% of those individuals diagnosed with the condition die within three years of diagnosis.”Ms Cox had a life expectancy of two to five years.
In court, statistics were presented that showed 14% of those granted immediate access to payments because they were expected to die within six months, were still alive three years later. Granting leave for judicial review, Mr. Justice McAlinden could not find justification for why those who have a terminal diagnosis but are not expected to die within six months and those individuals with a terminal diagnosis and who are reasonably expected to die within six months but who survive beyond that six-month period are treated differently.
As such, the difference in treatment was found to be manifestly without reasonable justification, therefore, in breach of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in conjunction with Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol 1.
Click here for the full judgment.