ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by examining the representation of benefits claimants in the media. It highlights the collective and stereotypically negative representation of benefit claimants to examine how these representations have constructed the unemployed as unworthy of human rights protection and socio-economic rights as an undesirable extension of the existing human rights framework. The chapter then moves on to discuss the role of the Human Rights Act (HRA) in scrutinising welfare benefits and the judicial challenges on austerity measures under the HRA and how this then feeds into arguments that the HRA should be repealed. It examined the persistent attacks against benefit claimants and showed how single mothers, in particular, have been vilified in mass media. The HRA has provided crucial tools for individuals and pressure groups to challenge not only individual decisions but also the measures broadly.
