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Disabled child benefit bid fails - Challenge to DLA Mobility component for children under 3 years

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Wed, 17/02/2010 - 11:17am
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Disabled child benefit bid fails

A father has failed in his bid to challenge a law which prevents children under three years old receiving mobility benefits.

Stephen Meek argued that the rule was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But a judge at the Court of Session in Edinburgh rejected the claim.

Lord Brodie ruled it was for Westminster to decide age limits, and picking the third birthday as a cut-off point was not irrational.

An earlier hearing was told how Mr Meek, from Lanark, and his wife, Wendy, gave up work and exhausted their life savings while looking after their disabled son Justin.

They claimed that if the law restricting the £45 a week mobility payments was fairer, up to 7,000 children throughout the UK would benefit.

The court heard Justin has suffered health problems since his birth in June 2004, in particular Prader-Willi syndrome.

The boy's development is delayed, he has an under-lying muscle disorder and needs to be fed through a tube.

Test case

Mr Meek, 40, described in court the problems faced during Justin's early life, including taking him to hospital 150 times during his first year.

Paying £500 a month for the use of a disabled taxi service almost brought them to financial breaking point, he said.

Mr Meek said after his son was born he sold his business and life savings of some £137,000 had been spent.

Justin is now five-and-a-half years old, so the family has become eligible for the extra allowance - which they forgo in return for a specially adapted vehicle and help with its running costs like insurance and maintenance.

They raised a court action as a test case, seeking a judicial review.

The family asked Lord Brodie to rule on the Department of Work and Pensions regulations. The case was resisted by the Advocate General for Scotland, acting for the Department of Work and Pensions.

The court heard that the age limit had been five years old until it was lowered in 1999.

Lord Brodie, in his written ruling, said parliament had taken the decision on the basis of expert advice.

"I cannot say that that was an irrational decision," he said. "I do not find it incompatible with the Convention."

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8518654.stm


Published: 2010/02/16 16:45:59 GMT


© BBC MMX

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