Students help the sick and disabled overturn 95% of DWP’s ‘fit for work’ decisions

Student volunteers in Bristol have overturned 95% of the decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in their area regarding 200 claimants who had wrongfully been ruled ‘fit for work’.

The DWP, headed by Iain Duncan Smith, has implemented draconian measures in order to take vital sick and disability benefits away from unwell people by claiming that they are fit to work. Almost 60% of the DWP’s decisions are overturned nationwide – evidence that the programme is designed to remove people’s benefits almost regardless of their condition – while 2,380 people died soon after being declared fit for work between 2011 and 2014.

Students volunteering at the Bristol and Avon Law Centre have significantly bettered the national average rate for overturning the DWP’s callous decisions, successfully appealing 95% of the 200 cases they have dealt with so far. As The Lawyer reports, the student volunteers represent claimants at benefit appeals before a judge and a doctor, with only the brightest students selected to advocate – all the volunteers have since graduated with first class degrees.

Speaking to Legal Cheek, Kinga Burzynska, one of the student volunteers, said: “The project has improved my legal knowledge, hands-on legal experience and given me invaluable time with clients. It reminds me of what difficulties people have to go through to get their rights. Making a difference to them is highly rewarding.”

Andy King, the benefits adviser who supervised the students, said: “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. I am confident the law centre can build on the project’s success, helping a lot more people that cannot afford to pay for legal advice.”