A GREAT Sankey family have made history after successfully challenging a law surrounding disabled children's benefit payments in Supreme Court. 

The ruling, which affects an estimated 500 families a year, means when a child is in hospital for more than 84 days Disability Living Allowance (DLA) payments are stopped as it is viewed the parent's needs will be fully met free of charge by the NHS.

Dad Craig Mathieson, whose son Cameron spent most of his life in Alder Hey with a rare combination of genetic conditions before his sad death aged five in 2012, has said the reality is very different and mounted a challenge against the Department of Work and Pensions. 

And after taking their son Cameron Mathieson's case to the highest court in the land, judges have today ruled the decision to stop the youngster's DLA was 'unjustified'. 

The court added: "It was discrimination against Cameron and violated his human rights. 

"He was entitled to continued payments."

Dad Craig Mathieson says: “This decision is a fantastic legacy for Cameron. Cameron adored people and he would have been delighted to know that because of him other vulnerable children and their families will not have to endure the same financial hardships that we had to contend with while he was in hospital.”

Acting for Mr Craig Mathieson, the father of Cameron, Mitchell Woolf from Scott-Moncrieff Solicitors says: “While this judgment does not immediately apply to all similar cases, it enables around 500 families to seek the reinstatement of their DLA payments, so they will be able to afford to visit and care for their sick children having long-stay hospital treatment. 

"It could also benefit very many more families into the future. 

“My client, Craig Mathieson from Warrington, lost his son Cameron aged five in 2012, but chose to fight for other families so they would not go through the hardship the Mathieson family faced when their DLA was stopped.  

“After Cameron had been in hospital for 84 days the Department for Work & Pensions applied the 84 Day rule and ceased the DLA payments, causing the Mathieson family significant hardships. 

"In Cameron’s case, as with other equally ill children, his parents were being relied on by the hospital to assist with his daily care and his father or mother was resident in the hospital at all times.  The DLA enabled the Mathieson family to fund this arrangement.

“Stopping the DLA leaves other families unable to afford to visit and support their children, sometimes as they suffer a terminal illness. 

Two charities which campaigned on this matter have issued a joint statement. 

Amanda Batten, CEO of Contact a Family and Dalton Leong, CEO of The Children’s Trust, said: “Today’s Supreme Court judgement is a significant victory for the Mathieson family who have fought tirelessly on behalf of some of the most severely disabled children in the UK who require hospital treatment.

“We are delighted that the Supreme Court has recognised that it is unfair to remove disability benefits from families of the most sick and disabled children when they need it most.

"The judgment shows that the court understands that many parents provide care that even the best equipped hospitals can’t give and have substantial costs - such as loss of earnings, travel and meal expenses, parking fees and childcare costs for siblings - as a result.

“Today’s outcome will be welcome news for families of disabled children across the UK. The welfare system should be there to protect families when they are at their most vulnerable. We now call on the government to urgently act on today’s judgement and scrap this unfair rule once and for all. Families affected by the rule should seek advice about using this judgment to ask that their DLA payments restart.

“We would like to extend our gratitude and heartfelt thanks to the Mathieson family who have fought tirelessly, not for their own benefit, but for the other hundreds of families affected each year.”