Going Cap in Hand : Challenges to the Benefit Cap and Local Authority Discretionary Housing Payment Policy

In the final days of the 2010 Coalition Government’s parliamentary term, two judgments were handed down which, together, could pose a threat to the legacy of its welfare reform programme. The (in part) unsuccessful Benefit Cap challenge in R. (on the application of JS) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the successful challenge to Sandwell MBC’s Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) policy in R. (on the application of Hardy) v Sandwell MBC, both clearly demonstrate the importance – and potential – of the ECHR to challenge reforms to housing benefit