DW v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

An earlier award of disablement pension for a fixed period does not prevent a tribunal from reconsidering causation for a later period. The tribunal must determine whether the continuing loss of faculty resulted from the relevant accident under section 103(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.

A tribunal containing a registered medical practitioner may generally rely on its own medical expertise without giving reasons for those reasons, unless reasoned evidence contradicting its opinion makes further explanation necessary. A reasons challenge succeeds only where the reasons are inadequate and the defect causes substantial prejudice. Imprecision on immaterial matters does not amount to an error of law.

The claimant appealed against a First-tier Tribunal decision dated 29 October 2020, which dismissed his appeal against the Secretary of State’s decision that he was no longer entitled to disablement pension from 5 March 2018. The entitlement had arisen from an industrial accident in 2010, but the Secretary of State concluded that the claimant’s continuing impairment resulted from degenerative spinal disease rather than the accident.

The claimant argued that the First-tier Tribunal had failed to explain why earlier awards and medical assessments were not followed and had relied on irrelevant matters. The Secretary of State supported the appeal on different grounds, contending that the tribunal had inadequately explained aspects of its causation reasoning. The central issues were whether causation could be reconsidered for the later period and whether the First-tier Tribunal’s reasons were legally adequate.

1. The appeal was dismissed. The First-tier Tribunal had not erred in law.
2. Under section 103(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the relevant question was whether the claimant’s loss of faculty resulted from the accident. The earlier awards concerned earlier fixed periods and provisional assessments. Although final for the purposes of section 17 of the Social Security Act 1998, they did not bind the tribunal in determining entitlement for the later period.
3. The First-tier Tribunal was entitled to reconsider causation afresh. It gave adequate reasons for attaching little weight to the earlier assessments, since causation had not previously been a live issue and the earlier medical advisers had not considered the fuller medical evidence before the tribunal.
4. A tribunal including a registered medical practitioner may generally rely on its own expertise. It must give reasons for its conclusion, but need not give reasons for its reasons where no reasoned medical evidence contradicts the tribunal’s opinion. The principles in Flannery v Halifax Estate Agencies Ltd [1999] EWCA Civ 811; [2000] 1 WLR 377 did not require more detailed reasoning in the circumstances.
5. The tribunal’s references to possible earlier injuries, the timing of degeneration, a constitutional condition and few symptoms were intelligible when read in context. Any imprecision did not concern matters fundamental to the outcome. Applying the approach in South Bucks District Council v Porter [2004] UKHL 33; [2004] WLR 1953, the claimant had not shown substantial prejudice.
6. Although the First-tier Tribunal had not referred to regulation 11(3) of the Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982, the issue of partial causation did not arise on its findings. Its inaccurate and formulaic discussion of revision and supersession powers was immaterial and did not affect the decision.

• Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber): dismissed the claimant’s appeal and upheld the First-tier Tribunal’s decision, holding that it was not erroneous in point of law.
• First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber): on 29 October 2020, dismissed the claimant’s appeal against the Secretary of State’s decision ending disablement pension entitlement from 5 March 2018.
• Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: decided on 13 March 2018 that the claimant was no longer suffering loss of faculty resulting from the 2010 accident.