The Universal Credit (Exception to the Requirement not to be receiving Education) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 - (Screening)

One of the basic conditions a person must meet to be eligible for Universal Credit (UC) is that they must not be “receiving education”. However, there are some exceptions to this and one is for disabled students. Following a judicial review challenge that was brought against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 4 March 2020 in relation to the Department’s application of this exception, amendments were made to the regulations to re-instate the policy intent: namely to enable a disabled person who has already been determined to have Limited Capability for Work (LCW), either during an award of UC or a previous award of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), to enter into education and better their prospects of obtaining work.