Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether (a) she or (b) the Minister of State for Disabled People authorised her Department’s decision to contest Mr Connor’s legal challenge against its policy of withholding payment of employment and support allowance while it determines a request for mandatory reconsideration of that benefit.

The Department for Work and Pensions has not appealed against the High Court judgment in the case of Connor v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and is in the process of implementing the judgment. Claimants who are entitled to ESA payment pending appeal will no longer need to pursue a mandatory reconsideration before lodging an appeal at the First-tier Tribunal.

As with all such challenges against a departmental policy, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is the Respondent.