Migrants should be banned from using taxpayer–funded translators to claim benefits, a report says.
The study by the Policy Exchange think–tank, which follows a surge in claims, says tribunals considering benefit cases should no longer offer free translation services.
The report says the benefits system should be seen as ‘part of a social contract that one has with society at large’, adding: ‘Part of this is the ability to converse in the official, national language.’
The study cites official figures showing the cost of providing translation services in civil cases jumped by 80 per cent in the three years following the pandemic, to reach £12.8million last year.
Claimants are entitled to free translation to help them challenge decisions refusing them benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The report says that in future they should be expected to pay for their own interpreters if they cannot speak English. It says that free translation services should only continue for the deaf and for criminal cases where ‘freedom and liberty are on the line’.
The recommendation is part of a wider report urging ministers to take back control of the benefits system from the courts.
The study finds that the criteria for granting benefit claims has been systematically widened by the courts for years, helping to fuel the huge rise in the welfare bill.
There have been calls for tribunals to consider that benefit cases should no longer offer free translation services
A view of people thought to be migrants inside the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent
A view of temporary buildings which are used to temporarily house people thought to migrants at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility
It says that Parliament has ‘increasingly shown itself to be impotent in setting the eligibility for disability benefits’, with MPs unwilling to overturn adverse judgments by the courts.
The bill for sickness and disability benefits alone is forecast to top £100billion by the end of the decade.
More than 300,000 young people are now on sickness benefits that do not require them to make any effort to get a job – double the number five years ago.
Tribunals currently deal with thousands of benefits appeals every year. The study found that the majority are granted, with up to 75 per cent of cases overturned in some courts.
Former Lord Chancellor Sir Robert Buckland said the discretionary power allowing judges to interpret the law ‘should be returned to lawmakers’ to help contain the ‘breathtaking amount of public expenditure’, adding: ‘The subcontracting of decision–making of this nature and scale should concern all of us who care about the proper role of the courts.’
The report says £750million a year could be saved just by tightening the rules allowing people to claim PIP if they are unable to plan and undertake a journey because of mental health conditions.
Report author Jean–Andre Prager said criteria for benefit claims should be automatically reviewed every two years.
He also called for courts to issue ‘suspended’ judgments to give parliament six months to clarify the law before they came into effect, adding: ‘The appeals system has become a substitute for good decision–making rather than a check on it. We need to restore parliamentary authority, improve accountability and use technology to deliver a fairer, more sustainable system.’
