Helen Timson, 51, from Leicester, argued that it was illegal and unethical for the DWP to allow water and energy companies to take up to 25% of a claimant’s monthly income at source without any form of checking with the plaintiff. Hundreds of thousands of claimants are believed to be subject to the discounts. The high court ruled that the DWP’s operation of the scheme was unlawful because officials’ failure to give claimants an opportunity to challenge the companies’ claim meant they would not be able to decide whether the discount was in the claimants’ best interests . The judge, Mr Justice Cavanagh, said the claimants’ lack of opportunity to provide DWP officials with evidence about whether the detention was affordable, whether the debt was still due or to discuss more favorable alternative methods of repayment was “a breach of the obligation of justice”. Timson had suffered benefit cuts on several occasions without her consent. Once, an energy company wrongly deducted £81 a month for a year and a half for a non-existent debt. When he asked the DWP to stop the deductions, it refused, in breach of its own guidance, claiming it had no power to do so. In another case, he challenged Southern Water’s deduction of benefits for arrears and continuous use. When the hold was eventually removed and replaced with a more manageable direct debit arrangement, her debt payments fell by £31 a month. Timson, who is unable to work due to physical and mental health conditions, said that beyond her best interest the bookings had left her with little control over her finances and made it difficult to buy enough food. pay the rent or afford to travel to hospital appointments. He said he was “over the moon” about the decision, adding: “The fact that the DWP now has to ask benefit claimants for representations before they decide to take money out of their benefit is the least they should have done. “ The court heard that the utility companies would claim rebates from third parties by submitting Excel spreadsheets to the DWP containing the names of large numbers of overdue customers. These bundles of debtor names contained no information about the nature of the debt or the circumstances of the customers. Although the DWP is only required to approve the deductions if it is “in the best interests” of the claimant or his family, the court heard that officials gave the green light to the deductions without consulting or informing the claimant or making any attempt to assess whether it would be in the plaintiff’s interests. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Timson’s lawyer, Emma Varley of Bindmans LLP, said the DWP should now change the way the system works to ensure claimants are informed and can dispute rebate claims from utility companies People claiming legacy benefits are potentially subject to the third-party reservation system. The court heard DWP figures that just 200,000 deductions were made for water debts in May 2021 and 63,000 for gas and electricity debts in February this year. A DWP spokesman said: “We are carefully reviewing the crisis and will respond in due course. “The third-party reservation program strikes a fair balance between securing undisputed debts for essential public services and helping to protect vulnerable people and their families by protecting them from the potentially serious consequences of failing to address those debts.”