Judge Walker refuses us permission to apply for judicial review to have our unemployment benefit reinstated by the Department for Work and Pensions. We've been homeless on the streets of London for five weeks now
Perhaps the Metropolitan Police officer who told us two nights ago "see you around", after Declan had informed him we had a hearing in the High Court today to try and have our unemployment benefit reinstated, had inside information; and also the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) since no defending counsel or solicitor turned up, only a representative who sat in silence at the back of the courtroom.
Judge Walker refused Declan permission to apply for a judicial review. Our hearing was scheduled for a half an hour, but Declan gave the judge such a run for his money that his summation alone took a half an hour – Declan taking up the first half an hour briefing the court. It was no mean feat that Declan won the judge's leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, as well as a free transcript of his judgment.
The first thing Declan did was give Judge Walker and the representative from the DWP a statement he had prepared, and which was read in silence by the judge before the hearing commenced. It read:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE CO/7092/2006
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
In the matter of a claim for Judicial Review
The Queen on the application of
HEAVEY
versus BIRMINGHAM ERDINGTON JOBCENTRE PLUS
___________________________________________________
STATEMENT OF DECLAN HEAVEY BEFORE MR JUSTICE WALKER FOR PERMISSION TO APPLY FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW
___________________________________________________
At this oral hearing for permission to apply for judicial review, my preliminary statement to the Court comprises of the following six paragraphs:
1. On 24 August I filed my second claim for judicial review against Birmingham Erdington Jobcentre Plus following the decision of 18 August by the Defendant to suspend my joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance from 19 August. On 27 September, while awaiting permission to apply for judicial review, the Defendant terminated my joint claim JSA (from 19 September) because I did not sign my declaration, when my 'sign on' day was in fact two days later, on 29 September.
2. Given the wrongful termination of benefit on 27 September, I am seeking a mandatory order that the Defendant cause my joint claim JSA to be reinstated immediately, pay the accumulated arrears to me, and transfer my claim to my local jobcentre in Tower Hamlets in London.
3. In respect of the transfer of my claim to London, my wife and I have two registered pitches at Liverpool Street Station to sell The Big Issue magazine and all our connections are in Tower Hamlets, including, inter alia, the Dellow Centre and the Whitechapel Mission.
4. With regard to returning to Birmingham, not only have our connections been terminated there, but our employment prospects in the Midlands have been seriously compromised by the Department for Work and Pensions, given two judicial review applications against Birmingham Erdington Jobcentre Plus within a four-month period (the first prior to settlement), and having been forced to sleep rough in London for the past five weeks.
5. As for why we came to London, it was a question of taking to the streets either in Birmingham or London. Given our situation in Birmingham, we were left with no option but to come to London.
6. In an order made on 25 August, Mr Justice Sullivan asked if there was no internal appeal/review process whereby the Defendant could reconsider the decision of 18 August to suspend my joint claim JSA. In the light of the wrongful termination of benefit on 27 September, my application for judicial review is neither premature nor disproportionate. Accordingly, I request permission to apply for judicial review, save the mandatory order sought in paragraph 2 above.
Signed Dated 11 December 2006
Judge Walker conceded that our unemployment benefit was almost certainly wrongfully terminated by the DWP. Erdingtion Jobcentre in Birmingham alleged that Declan did not sign his declaration that he was available for work on 27 September, when he was not due to sign on until two days later. We signed on every second Friday, not every second Wednesday.
However, it was Judge Walker's ruling that in submitting an application on 24 August for permission to apply for judicial review following an unrelated suspension of his joint claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), Declan had taken an incorrect route in that he should have exhausted the internal appeal process first. This despite Declan's repeated protestations that he had been disenfranchised of the internal appeals process as a result of the jobcentre refusing to accept my proposed Jobseeker's Agreement for referral to an independent decision maker. Judge Walker then ruled that although Declan's permission application was listed for oral hearing this morning in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, he should have ignored the court's summoning letter of 31 October following the termination of benefit the month previous; and this notwithstanding that Declan's repeated letters of complaint had been ignored and he had thereby been denied the internal appeals process a second time.
So basically on 3 November we should have chosen homelessness in Birmingham (rather than London) in the absence of a response from the jobcentre to Declan's letter of 30 September that outlined the wrongful nature of the termination of his joint claim JSA. Declan brought the letter to the attention of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton on three separate occasions, but it was still ignored (as were his letters to the Secretary of State). Nonetheless, we should then have attempted to exhaust the internal appeals process whilst homeless in Birmingham (not London), even though Declan had been summoned to the High Court after having been denied his automatic right of appeal to an independent appeals tribunal.
It seems incredible to us that such blatant thuggery on the part of the DWP has been so easily accepted by the court. Now we only have one week to prepare all the paperwork to go with an appellant's notice for the Court of Appeal.
