Bryan v City & Council of Swansea

On an application for permission to appeal from the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal may hear the matter only if the proposed appeal raises an important point of principle or practice, or there is another compelling reason. A local authority assessing council tax benefit must use the Secretary of State’s calculation or estimate of income and capital where Council Tax Benefits (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for State Pension Credit) Regulations 2006, regulation 17 applies. A challenge to the underlying pension assessment must be directed to the Secretary of State. Taking a pension into account when calculating another benefit does not itself deprive the claimant of the pension for the purposes of article 1 of the First Protocol. A statutory prohibition on assigning or charging a pension is not engaged unless another person obtains an interest in it.

Mrs Bryan sought permission to appeal against Judge Bano’s decision in the Upper Tribunal, which dismissed application CH/2023/2008 and refused permission to appeal in CPC/3701/2008. The proposed appeal concerned council tax benefit, not the state pension credit application.

The Secretary of State had supplied Swansea City Council with figures for Mrs Bryan’s income and capital. She argued that the income figure was inaccurate, that using it reduced her council tax benefit, and that doing so infringed article 1 of the First Protocol and section 187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1998. The central issues were whether Swansea had to accept the Secretary of State’s figure and whether the pension had been unlawfully deprived, assigned or charged.

1. Permission and jurisdiction. The application was refused, although time was extended. Under section 13(8) of the Tribunal Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, the court had no jurisdiction to entertain an appeal against a refusal of permission to appeal. The application could therefore concern only the council tax benefit matter.
2. Statutory calculation. Regulation 17 of the Council Tax Benefits (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for State Pension Credit) Regulations 2006 required Swansea, as the relevant authority, to use the Secretary of State’s calculation or estimate of the claimant’s income and capital for the state pension credit award. The limited power of modification in regulation 17(3) did not assist Mrs Bryan. Any challenge to the accuracy of the pension assessment was a matter for the Secretary of State.
3. Convention and statutory arguments. Article 1 of the First Protocol required a deprivation of pension to be shown. Mrs Bryan continued to receive her pension. Its amount was merely taken into account in calculating another benefit, potentially reducing that benefit; the pension itself remained unaffected. Section 187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1998, which prevented the pension from being assigned or charged, was not engaged because no other person had obtained an interest in it.
4. Authority and threshold. Vasilopoulou v Greece (2002) concerned the non-payment of a court-awarded supplementary widow’s pension and did not support Mrs Bryan’s case. The proposed appeal had no prospect of success and raised no important point within section 13 of the 2007 Act. The application was dismissed.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Permission to appeal was refused, with time extended. The court held that the proposed appeal did not satisfy the statutory threshold and that it lacked jurisdiction over the refusal of permission to appeal.
2. Upper Tribunal Administrative Chamber: Judge Bano’s judgment dated 1 April 2009 dismissed application CH/2023/2008 and refused permission to appeal in CPC/3701/2008.