Upper Tribunal: Administrative Appeals Chamber judgments, 2026

A tribunal must investigate relevant evidential gaps where its inquisitorial jurisdiction requires it, assess the claimant’s evidence critically, and explain…

Where a claimant’s report of a change may require supersession of an earlier benefit award, and that award could affect entitlement to transitional protection…

A statutory appeal against a DBS barring decision permits the Upper Tribunal to correct an error of law or a mistake in a finding of fact on which the decision…

For a universal credit supersession adding the carer element, the relevant change is when all entitlement conditions are met. Starting to provide care alone is…

Before striking out a discrimination claim for having no reasonable prospect of success, a tribunal must take reasonable care to identify the claims disclosed…

Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012, a tribunal must consider whether informal disclosures to police amount to reporting an incident for…

Before the Practice Direction took effect on 24 October 2025, the The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 did not…

A tribunal cannot rehear a dispute already decided by a tribunal of competent jurisdiction. A statement of reasons request made in time does not require an…

Under Article 6(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs, a product’s “true origin” means its…

A tribunal must give adequate reasons for its assessment of a claimant’s functional ability. Where it relies on proposed aids to conclude that activities can…

Under rule 37 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008, set-aside requires a procedural irregularity of the kind…

A limited right to receive information may arise under article 10 where access is instrumental to freedom of expression and the requester and information meet…

Under section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014, the condition for arranging provision otherwise than in school is met if it would be inappropriate for…

A tribunal may accept evidence without corroboration. It must assess that evidence, assign the weight it considers appropriate in light of all the evidence…

When assessing substantial risk under paragraph 4 of Schedule 9 to the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, the tribunal must consider the work-related…

On an appeal alleging a factual error in a barred-list decision, the Upper Tribunal may assess relevant oral and written evidence together and make its own…

For the education exception in regulation 14(1)(b) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 to apply, the Secretary of State must have determined on or before…

Traffic commissioners must consider unaudited financial accounts, but may give them little weight where they do not show funds readily available to meet the…

Under section 132(1)(c) of the Data Protection Act 2018, information previously made available to the public may remain within the public domain exception even…

Where a claimant’s earned income fluctuates without an identifiable cycle, monthly earnings for the purposes of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 must be…

Conduct that harmed children during a mental health crisis may be “relevant conduct” in relation to vulnerable adults if it could be repeated in that setting…

When a fact-finding tribunal gives several reasons for its decision, an error affecting some reasons does not by itself require the decision to be set aside.…

Before an overpayment of benefit may be recovered under section 71(5A) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the benefit award must first have been…

A claimant relying on regulation 4(4) for the higher rate of bereavement support payment must have become entitled to child benefit as the provision requires.…

A penalty notice falls within the special-purposes safeguards only where at least one purpose of the relevant processing itself is journalistic, academic…

A variation for diversion of income requires satisfaction of both the paying parent's ability to control relevant income and an unreasonable reduction of…

A finding that an operator has lost good repute may be upheld where serious and continuing compliance failures are supported by the evidence. Knowing operation…

Daily living activity 1 assesses the ability to make food ready for cooking or eating. It does not include mobilising around the kitchen, including while…

For the universal credit condition requiring acceptance of the most up-to-date claimant commitment, a later-generated version is not more up to date solely…

A Housing Benefit award is not irrevocably ended by a temporary interruption in entitlement before a supersession decision. The decision-maker must assess…

Where the Information Commissioner decides a complaint on an exemption newly raised by a public authority without giving the complainant a chance to respond…

For Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, local-authority responsibility under section 24 depends on ordinary residence. The applicable test is whether…

A tribunal must assess whether it is fair to decide an appeal on the papers, even where the claimant requested that procedure. Its reasons must explain why the…

A tribunal’s reasons must be adequate, not perfect. It should explain decisive findings but need not recite every statutory step or item of evidence where…

On an appeal against a barring decision, the Upper Tribunal may assess oral and written evidence together and make its own findings of primary fact. It may…

For a joint claim, the work condition in the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 requires the non-working member to be unable to provide childcare because of…

A statutory barred-list appeal is confined to mistakes of law or fact; the Upper Tribunal cannot reconsider whether barring was appropriate. A factual mistake…

Under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011, a tribunal must first determine whether and when an injury was caused wholly or…

Where maternity allowance is payable for the period that would apply if the claimant were entitled to statutory maternity pay, the statutory fiction extends as…

Where a tribunal accepts evidence bearing directly on a statutory disability criterion but finds that criterion unmet, it must explain clearly why the evidence…

The Equal Treatment Bench Book is a judicial briefing, not law. It need not be cited or expressly applied and creates no additional procedural duties. Fairness…

Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, public-authority status is assessed functionally and in the circumstances as a whole. The characteristics…

An appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to material errors of law or fact; the Upper Tribunal cannot substitute…

When applying a public-interest test attached to an exemption, a tribunal must focus on factors that engage the exemption relied on. Its reasons must address…

On a second appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, findings of fact specified by the Upper Tribunal under section 4(7)(a) bind…

An appeal from a Traffic Commissioner is assessed by whether the decision was wrong on the facts or law under the Bradley Fold test. The Upper Tribunal may not…

A statutory appeal against a barring decision may succeed only for a mistake of law or a material mistake of fact. Although the appropriateness of listing is…

For the Universal Credit Administrative Earnings Threshold, monthly earnings are calculated before deductions for income tax, National Insurance contributions…

When applying Schedule 9 paragraph 4 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, a tribunal must assess substantial risk from work-related activities a claimant…

When assessing a goods vehicle operator’s financial standing, a Traffic Commissioner must consider relevant evidence of funds, including bank-account resources…

Under section 71(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, whether an undisclosed fact is material is assessed objectively and in all the…

Under paragraph 115(b) of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012, reopening requires both a material change in medical condition and injustice if the…

An appeal against a DBS barred-list decision under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to an alleged mistake of law or in a finding of fact…

Section 5B(b) of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals Act 1943 restricts the circumstances a tribunal may consider, not the date on which evidence of those…

Under paragraph 4(3) of Schedule 17 to the Equality Act 2010, the First-tier Tribunal has a general discretion to consider a disability discrimination claim…

A regulatory decision based on equivocal evidence involves an error of law where the decision-maker treats uncertainty as confirmation. A finding that an…

Under regulation 9(1)(l) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, the question is whether the claimant’s liability was created to obtain an improper advantage…

On an appeal against refusal of an operator’s licence, the Upper Tribunal reviews the material before the decision-maker and intervenes only where the…

A tribunal determining the date of a universal credit claim must consider whether a telephone claim was permitted, whether it was properly completed, and…

Information concerning the assessment and performance management of research programmes is not necessarily environmental information merely because the…

On an appeal under section 4(2) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the appellant must establish a mistake of law or fact in the DBS barring…

For the purposes of Freedom of Information Act 2000, confirming or denying that a public authority holds information may itself disclose legally privileged…

An appeal against a barring decision is confined to mistakes of law and mistakes in findings of fact on which the decision was based. The question whether…

In an EHC plan, a specialist hub operated by a maintained special school may be identified in Section I in addition to naming the school of which it forms…

When deciding which institution to name in an education, health and care plan, the statutory preference for the young person’s requested institution may be…

Where payment of the Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity element is deferred under regulation 28(1) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013…

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is procedural. Reliance on section 17(6) does not remove the public authority’s substantive duty under…

Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights are not additional factors to be weighed in the public-interest balance under regulation 12 of the…

A decision maintaining an interim disablement assessment on review may give rise to both an entitlement appeal and an assessment appeal. The tribunal must…

In special educational needs appeals, an education, health and care plan must be based on evidence. A tribunal cannot make more specific findings than the…

An appeal against a barring decision under section 4(2) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law and mistakes in findings…

An appeal under Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 section 4 may succeed where the Disclosure and Barring Service relied on a material mistake of fact or…

A Traffic Commissioner must revoke a standard operator’s licence when the operator ceases to satisfy the transport-manager requirement and an authorised period…

A claim for Bereavement Support Payment must be made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed time. Contact with the Tell Us Once service, which is…

Under s.36 of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, a traffic commissioner may review a licensing decision only where a procedural requirement…

On an appeal against a Traffic Commissioner’s decision under the Goods Vehicles (Enforcement Powers) Regulations 2001, the Upper Tribunal must decide whether…

An appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to material mistakes of law or fact in the DBS decision. It is not a full…

An assets variation under regulation 69A of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 requires an objective valuation of the asset and…

Where a tribunal awards personal independence payment for a fixed term, its statement of reasons must explain why that duration was selected. The explanation…

Where childcare charges are paid in one Universal Credit assessment period, their attribution is governed by regulation 34A of the Universal Credit Regulations…

A restricted patient may be conditionally discharged while remaining in hospital informally. Conditional discharge does not require discharge into the…

In an appeal against inclusion in the children’s and adults’ barred lists, the Upper Tribunal may consider whether the Disclosure and Barring Service made a…

An appeal tribunal hearing an appeal against an outcome decision stands in the shoes of the original decision-maker. It may decide any issue necessary to…

When determining causation under article 8 of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011, a tribunal must identify the potential…

For mobility activity 1 under the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, descriptors 1.a, 1.b, 1.c, 1.d, 1.f and 1.e should be…

When deciding whether a Universal Credit claim may be backdated under regulation 26(2)(b) of the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s…

On judicial review of a Criminal Injuries Compensation appeal, the First-tier Tribunal must deal with the case in accordance with the overriding objective and…

Where a claimant says that an original Universal Credit decision was wrong on the facts existing when it was made, the application concerns revision, not…

A provisional decision to conditionally discharge a restricted patient does not finally determine the patient’s mental state. Until a final direction is made…

Special educational provision must have a sufficient nexus with the child or young person’s special educational needs. The needs identified in Section B of an…

A joint election determining priority for child benefit must comply with the prescribed method. Agreement between potentially entitled persons is insufficient…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined principally to mistakes of law or fact on which the…

On an appeal against revocation of a goods vehicle operator’s licence, the Upper Tribunal asks whether objective grounds require a different view from the…

On an appeal from a Traffic Commissioner, the Upper Tribunal must decide objectively whether a different view is required by reason and the law. A restricted…

Under Freedom of Information Act 2000, the inquiry under section 3(2)(a) should ordinarily separate two questions: whether the public authority holds the…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list lies on the ground that the Disclosure and Barring Service made a mistake of law or fact on which its decision was…

For legacy means-tested benefits, a claimant’s money resources must be classified as either income or capital. Regular payments presumptively have the…

When calculating child maintenance, losses from a non-resident parent’s self-employed business cannot be deducted from employment income. For historic income…

Financial standing for a goods vehicle operator may be demonstrated by a combination of financial evidence. Paragraph 6A of Schedule 3 to the Goods Vehicles…

Before automatic inclusion in a barred list, the Disclosure and Barring Service must give the person a real opportunity to make representations. Posting the…