Court of Appeal to hear appeal about London homeless families being forced to move to several hundreds of miles because of Benefit Cap

The Court of Appeal have granted a homeless single mother of three children permission to appeal the London Borough of Waltham Forest’s decision to discharge its duty to secure accommodation because she refused a property in Stoke on Trent, some 175 miles away from her support network and the children’s father. The appeal concerns the lawfulness of the Council’s policy which appears to require all claimants who are subject to the Department for Work and Pensions ‘benefit cap’, which effectively applies to all non-working families with more than two children, to move outside London or the surrounding area. The Appellant is represented by Camden Community Law Centre and Jamie Burton KC and Sian McGibbon of Gray’s Inn Square.