Upper Tribunal: Administrative Appeals Chamber judgments, 2016

The "blind" limb of the blind-and-deaf route to higher-rate mobility Disability Living Allowance is a functional test. It asks whether the claimant's loss of…

On an appeal concerning renewal of disability living allowance, the decision-maker must provide all relevant or potentially relevant documents in its…

Article 6 of Regulation (EC) 883/2004 does not permit the aggregation of mere residence in another Member State with presence in Great Britain. It applies only…

For a neither-confirm-nor-deny response under Freedom of Information Act 2000, the public-interest assessment concerns disclosure of whether the authority…

Legal professional privilege is a qualified, not absolute, exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The powerful public interests in preserving the…

Mobility descriptors 1d and 1f in the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013 are not confined to navigation. They include the ability…

Child benefit entitlement is not determined exclusively by where a child lives. A person may be responsible for a child either because the child lives with…

A tribunal has no jurisdiction to determine a tax-credit appeal unless the notice challenged is a decision to which Tax Credits Act 2002 section 38 gives a…

For personal independence payment, the ability to carry out a scheduled activity is assessed as a whole. A claimant is not limited merely because they can…

For Personal Independence Payment purposes, “taking nutrition” is confined to the physical and mental acts specified in Schedule 1: cutting food, conveying…

A request is vexatious under section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 only after a high-threshold, objective and rounded assessment of all relevant…

Dust reticulation within the statutory definition of pneumoconiosis is a pathological condition, not merely a radiological pattern. It means structural changes…

For the Work Capability Assessment mobility activity, “other aid” is confined by the express reference to a walking stick and a manual wheelchair. The…

A school which denies a disabled pupil full-time attendance because of disability-related behaviour must justify that treatment under section 15 of the…

A tribunal which orders residential special educational provision must make sufficient findings and give adequate reasons showing why the provision meets an…

A qualified exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 must not be treated as absolute. The public-interest exercise requires the tribunal to identify…

An incontinence pad is an aid for the purposes of the daily-living descriptors in Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013. It is a…

Where parents with parental responsibility express opposing preferences for suitable maintained schools, Education Act 1996 Schedule 27 does not require both…

A tribunal errs in law where it fails to consider relevant evidence bearing directly on a central factual issue, or fails to explain how that evidence is…

A refusal to revise an earlier social-security decision may also be treated as a refusal to supersede it. The resulting appeal is in time if brought within the…

A request is vexatious under section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 only where a high threshold is met after an objective, broad and balanced…

In an information-rights appeal, the First-tier Tribunal may use a closed-material procedure which excludes both the requester and the requester’s legal…

In an assessment appeal under the Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 2006, the tribunal must determine the…

A final tax-credit decision under section 18 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 wholly replaces an earlier section 16 decision for the same period. The earlier…

A student’s interruption of attendance on a full-time course is not necessarily temporary merely because the student expects to resume study. Under regulation…

For EU free-movement purposes, whether work is genuine and effective is assessed objectively and holistically. The scale, duration, hours and remuneration of…

A later decision under Tax Credits Act 2002 section 18, determining entitlement for the same tax year, causes an outstanding appeal against the earlier section…

An appeal against a barring decision is confined to an error of law or a material error of fact. The Upper Tribunal does not reconsider whether barring is…

A decision terminating or amending a tax-credit award under Tax Credits Act 2002 section 16 does not automatically lapse merely because a later, conclusive…

An EHIC constitutes comprehensive sickness insurance only where its conditions would enable the host state to recover the cost of healthcare from the issuing…

A Union citizen seeking work must show a genuine chance of being engaged. The chance must rest on objective material and offer real prospects of obtaining…

A sanction for failing to undertake work-related activity can arise under the Employment and Support Allowance (Work-Related Activity) Regulations 2011 only if…

A rented property is a disregarded business asset only where, in the statutory context, the claimant is carrying on a business as a self-employed earner and…

A claimant may be required to participate in the Work Programme only if the Secretary of State has selected the claimant and written notice complying in…

Under the 2008 Scheme, a disabling mental illness is directly attributable to a crime of violence if the crime was a substantial or significant cause. It need…

A claimant must be given sufficient information before referral to a work-for-benefit scheme to make representations about its suitability. That duty of…

Legal advice privilege under section 42 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 may protect advice given by Parliamentary Counsel even where litigation is…

For eligibility under paragraph 5 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012, whether a person was taking an exceptional risk must be assessed by…

A tribunal must be constituted and conduct its proceedings so as to preserve the safeguards of a fair hearing. Where a member who heard evidence at an earlier…

For regulation 9 of the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 1991, a care home is an establishment providing accommodation with personal…

A document certifying permanent residence under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 is evidence of a permanent right of residence. It…

A derivative right of residence for a primary carer under regulation 15A(4) depends on the child meeting every condition in regulation 15A(3) of the…

Under paragraph 13(1)(b) of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008, the tribunal must address whether an applicant failed to co-operate with efforts to…

In an appeal concerning the institution named in an EHC Plan, the alternative institution must be appropriate. Special educational provision is that which is…

A claimant may establish the genuine and sufficient link required to disapply the DLA past-presence test through family circumstances. A minor claimant’s link…

An adverse inference for non-compliance with a tribunal direction is evidential, not punitive. It may be drawn only where the tribunal considers it probable…

For housing-benefit purposes, whether a claimant previously owned a dwelling must be determined by the statutory definition of owner. A person is not an owner…

Environmental information is held by a public authority under regulation 3(2)(a) only where it is in the authority’s possession and has been produced or…

Whether married people are members of the same household is a factual question determined by ordinary meaning, common sense and the reality of their domestic…

Under Education Act 1996 section 324, necessity for a statement depends on whether, without one, the decision-maker can be satisfied to a reasonable degree of…

Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 32(1)(c) is an absolute, class-based exemption which covers information in electronic court records created by court…

A Romanian or Bulgarian national subject to the Worker Authorisation Scheme could rely on article 12 only if they had been admitted to the United Kingdom…

Home-to-school transport is distinct from both a special educational need and special educational provision. It cannot be incorporated into an EHC Plan as…

An appeal to the Upper Tribunal is confined to an error of law. It is not an opportunity to rehear the evidence. Under the Social Security (Personal…

Under activity 7 in Schedule 3 to the ESA Regulations, a claimant may satisfy the communication descriptor through the requisite impairment of either hearing…

For a claimant issued with the pre-amendment ESA50 questionnaire, the saving in regulation 2(2) of the Employment and Support Allowance (Amendment) Regulations…

A tribunal deciding an appeal against a tax-credit penalty must exercise its own discretion over both liability and amount. It may use HMRC guidance as a…

Payments for school-related extras are excluded by section 8(7) of the Child Support Act 1991 only where they are directly connected with the child’s…

An overpayment of housing benefit arises where the existing claimant has ceased to be entitled and another potential claimant has made no claim. The fact that…

Section 88 of the Localism Act 2011 does not confine an “actual use” of land to a lawful use. Parliament did not insert that qualification, and the statutory…

For a child-support calculation under the 2012 scheme, historic income must be calculated using the figure last requested from HMRC. A tribunal cannot…

A tribunal may strike out an application for permission to appeal under rule 8(3)(c) of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008 where it has no…

Capital held in an income-support claimant’s sole name is presumptively held both legally and beneficially by that claimant. The claimant bears the burden of…

For competing child tax credit claims, the main responsibility test requires a comparative, balanced assessment of the practical responsibility exercised by…

A claim for jobseeker’s allowance is defective under regulation 4 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 only where it fails the…

For Personal Independence Payment, whether an activity can be performed safely under regulation 4 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment)…

On an appeal concerning entitlement to Personal Independence Payment, the First-tier Tribunal may refer the claimant for examination by an approved healthcare…

A tribunal must act compatibly with Article 8, but it need not address Article 8 separately in every conditional-discharge case. Ordinarily, a proper…

A person aged 65 or over whose current award of the mobility component is at the lower rate cannot obtain the higher rate through supersession of a post-65…

An aid or appliance for personal independence payment need not be specially designed, made or sold for disabled people. An ordinary household item may qualify…

A claimant may be sanctioned for failure to participate in the Work Programme only where there has been a lawful selection for the scheme and written…

A conviction retrospectively rendered spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 must be treated as spent for the purposes of a criminal injuries…

For PIP daily living descriptor 4e, “bath or shower” is disjunctive. A claimant satisfies the descriptor if they need assistance to get into or out of either…

For the notice requirement in regulation 23(3) of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, there is no fixed legal rule In a straightforward…

A claimant absent from Great Britain for more than four weeks remains entitled to income support under the overseas-treatment exception only where the…

Section 65(7) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 validly prevents an award of attendance allowance where the United Kingdom is not the…

Capital which a claimant could obtain only by applying for its release is not treated as possessed immediately. Under Housing Benefit Regulations 2006…

In a child-support appeal under the former scheme, a tribunal must calculate income by reference to circumstances obtaining when the original decision was…

For a child claiming night-time care under section 72 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the comparison is with the normal…

For recovery under section 71(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the Secretary of State must establish both that the overpayment would have…

When assessing capital derived from property, a tribunal must consider the available valuation evidence before drawing adverse inferences from a claimant’s…

Entitlement under the communicating verbally and engaging with other people activities must be assessed separately. A need for communication support under…

A tribunal must evaluate credibility findings fairly and give adequate reasons for rejecting material evidence. Before placing substantial weight on an…

When assessing the public-interest balance for a qualified exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a tribunal must identify and assess the real…

Under Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012, paragraph 89(a) requires a decision-maker to determine separately whether there were exceptional…

For the functional category of public authority, an entity must be entrusted by the applicable legal regime with services of public interest and vested with…

A person is a functional public authority under Article 2(2)(b) of Directive 2003/4/EC only where the applicable legal regime entrusts it with services of…

Where there is a serious argument that a claimant’s exclusion from the employment and support allowance support group would create a substantial health risk…

A past-presence condition for disability living allowance unlawfully discriminates against refugees and their eligible family members where it prevents access…

For entitlement to carer’s allowance under EU social-security coordination rules, the competent Member State is determined by reference to the claimant’s…

For descriptor 9(c), “social support” is not confined to professionally supplied support or to assistance from a person with formal training or specialist…

Mobility descriptor 1d concerns a claimant’s ability to navigate and keep to the route of an unfamiliar journey. It does not extend to separate difficulties…

A Medical Adviser certifying entitlement under the Naval, Military and Air Forces Etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 2006 must consider the…

Under regulation 100 of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, an overpayment is recoverable unless it both arose from official error and the claimant could not…

Where a tribunal compares a maintained mainstream school with a parental preference under section 9 of the Education Act 1996, its comparative-cost findings…

Mandatory reconsideration requirements introduced for tax-credit appeals apply only to HMRC decisions made on or after their commencement. They do not restrict…

Regulation 23(2) of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 imposes distinct requirements to attend for, and to submit to, a medical examination.…

A valid written invitation to a disability living allowance recipient to claim personal independence payment may be issued under the Secretary of State’s…

For the bedroom-tax provisions in regulation B13, whether a room is a bedroom is not determined by its current use or by its suitability for an adult alone.…

An attempted electronic benefit claim is presumed not to have been delivered if it was not recorded on an official computer system. A claimant must rebut that…

Where disablement arises from more than one industrial accident or prescribed disease, regulation 11(5) requires an assessment of the later disease’s intrinsic…

Drug dependence may constitute a specific mental disease or disablement for the purposes of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008. The…

For descriptor 15(c) in Schedule 2 to the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, whether a claimant travels without being accompanied depends on…

For Personal Independence Payment assessments, a claimant satisfies a descriptor only where the activity can be performed safely, to an acceptable standard…

A finding that a claimant has a disease but was not in an occupation in relation to which it was prescribed is not a finding that the claimant was not…

Under the pre-28 January 2013 form of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, a claimant who cannot mount or descend two steps without another…

For descriptors concerning social engagement, a specific mental illness or disablement need only be an effective cause of the claimant’s functional difficulty.…

A sanction for failing to apply for employment under Jobseekers Act 1995, section 19(2)(c), requires evidence that an employment officer informed the claimant…

A tribunal may determine whether covert surveillance was authorised on the evidence available to it. It may accept credible evidence from a presenting officer…

Where a tribunal sets aside its own decision because material submissions were overlooked, the rehearing must be conducted afresh. The same panel should not…

The national gambling regulator may refuse an operating licence where it considers the proposed operating environment inconsistent with the licensing…

A tribunal must weigh all the evidence in the individual case. It may prefer a health professional’s opinion to a claimant’s uncorroborated account, but only…

For the purposes of regulation 35(2) of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, the First-tier Tribunal must assess the substantial risk to…

For entitlement to disability living allowance, the requirement of ordinary residence in Great Britain under the residence and presence conditions carries an…

A final entitlement decision under Tax Credits Act 2002 section 18 may raise an issue about the continued utility or validity of an appeal against an in-year…

An application for permission to appeal may properly be refused where the proposed grounds raise potentially wide and important issues that should instead be…

Where a party in child support proceedings may be deterred from attending a hearing by a non-fanciful fear of intimidation, the First-tier Tribunal must…

A tribunal determining entitlement to social security benefit must comply with the equality of arms requirement under Article 6(1). It must consider whether a…

For state pension credit, income paid in arrears is attributed from its receipt, rather than retrospectively over the period for which it accrued. Recovery…

A revision for ignorance of a material fact under Housing and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001, regulation 4(2)(b), is available…

Where an employer makes a company car available to an employed earner, the provision of the car generates no earnings under the Child Support (Maintenance…

Under Activity 3 of Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, a need for help to monitor a health condition attracts descriptor b only.…

A tribunal exercising a judicial function is excluded from the duty to make reasonable adjustments under Equality Act 2010 section 29. It must nevertheless…

The statutory definitions of complex verbal information and complex written information in the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013…

A statement of special educational needs must specify the provision required with sufficient clarity and specificity to leave no doubt about what has been…

In an appeal against an in-year termination of tax-credit awards, the tribunal must determine whether HMRC had reasonable grounds for its decision and, where…

Recovery of a social-security overpayment under Social Security Administration Act 1992 section 71(1) requires the Secretary of State to establish the…

A tribunal may revise an earlier social-security award for a mistake of fact only if it establishes more than a different assessment of the evidence. Where the…