HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) with effect from 1 April 2011
Highlighted decisions June 2021
Great Britain and Northern Ireland decisions highlighted by the Editorial Board in June 2021
Employment and Support Allowance
RS v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (ESA) [2021] UKUT 112 (AAC)
CE/1941/2018; CE/1943/2018
This decision seeks to explain the legal mechanism by which a person who was entitled to the contributions-based element of ESA is awarded the income-based element. It also highlights a number of shortcomings in DWP practices regarding record-keeping, conduct of interviews under caution in overpayment cases and the provision of documentary evidence to the First-tier Tribunal. The decision expresses concern at the DWP's apparent inability to explain to the First-tier Tribunal the meaning of certain decision-making codes used in the 'notepad' entries that record claimant contacts and actions taken on awards.
CT v SSWP [2021] UKUT 131 (AAC)
CE/1632/2020
Tax credits couples and joint claims – death of spouse - construction of s.3 of Tax Credits Act 2002 – Employment and support allowance – regulation 36 of ESA Regulations 2008 -precedent – FTT bound by decisions of the UTAAC (in particular the decision in IM v. SSWP (ESA) [2014] UKUT 412 (AAC)) and not free to ignore them.
Information Rights
Information Commissioner v Moss and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames [2020] UKUT 174 (AAC)
GIA/1940/2018
This decision decides that the First-tier Tribunal has jurisdiction to enforce a substituted decision notice under FOAI, whilst leaving open whether it has jurisdiction to enforce a decision notice if it dismisses an appeal. It also explains what the Court of Appeal did not mean in the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Devani.
Personal Independence Payment
SE v SSWP (PIP) (Final decision) [2021] UKUT 79 (AAC)
CPIP/1653/2019
The interim decision SE v SSWP (PIP) [2021] UKUT 1 (AAC) ruled on the interpretation of activities 8 and 10. The present decision remakes the decision under appeal. Its wider significance is in highlighting the potential relevance of ESA assessments to PIP cases where people with learning disabilities claim points under those activities.
Universal Credit
LG v SSWP (CUC) [2021] UKUT 121 (AAC)
CSUC/280/2020
Universal Credit - claimant received two payments from her employers during the assessment period of one calendar month (her employers made her 13 payments covering 28 days each during a calendar year)- whether both payments made during same assessment period should be taken into account - regulation 54(1) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 considered.
