Leigh Day solicitors has fought a legal battle for 275 claimants who lost their Severe Disability Premium (SDP) during the switch to Universal Credit
Thousands of Universal Credit claimants could be in line for a compensation boost, courtesy of Leigh Day solicitors’ legal battle. The solicitors fought for 275 people who say they were unfairly stripped of their Severe Disability Premium (SDP) during the shift to the new welfare scheme.
Leigh Day’s website reveals that as many as 13,000 people could be entitled to compensation from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), with potential settlements clocking “in excess of £5,000”. The firm has also shared that payouts between £200 and £3,000 have been granted to more than 200 people for the money they lost when switching to Universal Credit before January 2019.
This was before the DWP launched their ‘SDP Gateway’ to prevent such losses, an initiative similar to the Transitional Protection offered now for moving from old benefits to Universal Credit. The site notes too that some claimants didn’t only lose out on SDP but also the ‘Enhanced Disability Premium’ (EDP), which meant waving goodbye to up to £180 a month.
This massive drop was taken to the High Court by two claimants, known as TP and AR, with Leigh Day fighting their corner leading to a win that resulted in the birth of the SDP Gateway. Leigh Day’s human rights team, fronted by partner lawyer Ryan Bradshaw.
Bradshaw managed to secure non-financial terms that led the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to compensate for the “stress and injury to feelings they had suffered”. Leigh Day’s website discloses: “The DWP have agreed to an August 2025 deadline to set up a lawful compensation scheme to repay his clients for the loss of income, which Ryan Bradshaw estimates could be worth in excess of £5,000 per person”, reports the Express.
Amidst growing concerns, Bradshaw suspects that up to 15,000 more benefit recipients might be eligible for payouts from the DWP. He said: “I am glad to have settled this claim on behalf of my clients. However, there are thousands of others who have been similarly affected who have not been in a position to bring a claim like this.”
He added: “They too will have experienced the loss of £180 a month after they were moved from legacy benefits onto universal credit in the years before January 2019. They too will have suffered unnecessary stress.”
Bradshaw emphasised the crucial demand for a comprehensive remedy, urging: “A suitable scheme, compensating all the people who have endured discrimination at the hands of the DWP, ought to be urgently put in place. The mistakes made here should never be repeated.”
Individuals who suspect they’ve been impacted by the transition to Universal Credit are encouraged to get independent guidance from a not-for-profit like Citizens Advice. For more on this, visit Leigh Day’s website.