Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what cost to the public purse has been incurred by his Department (a) challenging and (b) appealing against the High Court ruling that lone parents with children aged under two should be exempt from the benefits cap.

Legal fees of defending the case in the High Court are £67,690. This figure includes VAT where payable (for example on Counsel’s fees) and disbursements but does not include costs attributable to time spent by Government advisory lawyers, as time spent by such advisory lawyers is not recorded in a manner that allows it to be attributable to individual court cases.

DWP has also paid £125,000 (plus VAT) towards the Claimants’ costs.

DWP’s legal costs for appealing the case in the Court of Appeal are estimated to be between £25,000 and £40,000 (this includes our best estimate of external Counsel fees).

Evaluation of the previous cap level found capped households were 41% more likely to go into work than similar uncapped households and lone parents affected by the cap were 51% more likely to go into work than similar uncapped lone parents. It is a policy that has been shown to work and is saving the tax payer millions of pounds.