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Neutral Citation Number:	2014 UKUT 480 AAC
Reported Number:
File Number:	CE 4181 2013
Appellant:	LH
Respondent:	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (ESA)
Judge/Commissioner:	Judge M. Rowland
Date Of Decision:	21/10/2014
Date Added:	10/11/2014
Main Category:	Employment and support allowance
Main Subcategory:	contributory ESA
Secondary Category:
Secondary Subcategory:
Notes:	Reported as [2015] AACR 14. Employment and support allowance – whether separate claims required for contributory allowance and income-related allowance The claimant’s award of the contributory allowance of employment and support allowance (ESA) was superseded and terminated from 26 August 2011 because, following a medical examination, she was found not to have limited capability for work. She appealed and a new award was made without a claim while the appeal was pending. The First-tier Tribunal (F-tT) allowed her appeal in March 2012 and also found that she had limited capability for work-related activity. In ignorance of that decision the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) told the claimant that her award of the contributory ESA would be superseded from 30 April 2012, when she would have exceeded 365 days’ entitlement. She was invited to provide information so that her possible entitlement to the income-related allowance could be considered and it was awarded from 30 April 2012. In July 2012 the DWP implemented the F tT’s decision of 22 March 2012 and paid arrears of contributory allowance from 26 August 2011 but arrears of the income-related allowance, equal to the amount of the enhanced disability premium to which she was entitled because she had limited capability for work-related activity, only from 30 April 2012. Her appeal against that decision was rejected by the F-tT in July 2013 on the ground that no separate claim for the income-related allowance had been made for a period before 30 April 2012. The claimant appealed to the Upper Tribunal. Held, allowing the appeal, that: 1. ESA was a single benefit and separate claims were not required for the contributory allowance and the income-related allowance; if one had been awarded then the other could be added on supersession, revision or appeal (paragraphs 11 to 12); 2. Consequently, since the decision in July 2012 was either the completion of a decision given on appeal or a decision given on revision or both, arrears attributable to the income-related allowance should have been paid from 26 August 2011 unless the claimant’s income precluded it (paragraph 29).
Decision(s) to Download:	[2015] AACR 14ws.doc