THE legal victory of four single mums against the government over “unlawful” universal credit rules shows ministers are “unwilling” to listen to the experiences of claimants, Labour said today.

Judges ruled against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) earlier this week, two years after single mother Danielle Johnson took the government to court.

It’s believed the ruling could benefit 85,000 people. 

Ms Johnson had experienced fluctuating benefit payments, leaving her £500 a year worse off and at risk of eviction, due to clashes in her salary pay date and the DWP’s fixed monthly universal credit assessment periods.

The single mum was paid on the last working day of the month and, if the last day fell on a weekend, she would be paid a few days earlier.

But the universal credit system interpreted this as Ms Johnson earning twice as much in one month and none in others. 

Between them, the four claimants fell into rent arrears and were forced to become reliant on foodbanks. 

The court ruled in favour of the mothers last year. However, in May the department decided to appeal the decision on the basis that making the changes to the computer system would cost at least £7.35 million.

But on Monday the appeal was overturned. Handing down the decision Lady Justice Rose said the challenge “should succeed on the grounds of irrationality” and claimed there was no reason why claimants’ pay dates should result in them losing significant amounts of money. 

Following the result Ms Johnson said she was relieved and found it “unbelievable” that the government had pursued the case for so many years.

“It should not have taken the Court of Appeal to tell them something which is just a matter of common sense,” she said. 

Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said it was “incomprehensible that the government has fought this case for so long.”

He said: “It is symptomatic of the government’s unwillingness to listen to the actual experiences of people in receipt of universal credit.”

Gingerbread, a charity for single parent families, said that it had received calls from many single parents facing the same problem.

Chief executive Victoria Benson said: “We would urge the government to accept the decision of the appeal court and urgently introduce flexibility between pay days and universal credit assessment periods.” 

The DWP said: “We are carefully considering the court’s decision as part of our ongoing work.”