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Neutral Citation Number:
Reported Number:	R(IS)3/03
File Number:	CIS 2698 2002
Appellant:
Respondent:
Judge/Commissioner:	Judge C. Turnbull
Date Of Decision:	25/09/2002
Date Added:	16/10/2002
Main Category:	Capital
Main Subcategory:	Disregards: personal injury/other compensation
Secondary Category:
Secondary Subcategory:
Notes:	Capital - disregard of trust fund derived from compensation for personal injury - whether disregard applies when injury was to deceased partner The claimant received compensation in 2001 in respect of respiratory disease suffered by her husband, who died in 1988. She transferred the capital to a trust fund. The Secretary of State decided that the trust assets could not be disregarded under paragraph 12 of Schedule 10 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987, because they were not derived from a payment made in consequence of personal injury to the claimant. The tribunal confirmed the Secretary of State's decision. Held, dismissing the appeal, that: 1. even if the effect of regulation 23(1) of the 1987 Regulations was that the reference to "claimant" in paragraph 12 of Schedule 10 should be read as including a reference to the claimant's partner (which the Commissioner doubted), he had ceased to be her partner on his death (paragraphs 7-11); 2. the argument based on the contention that the husband's personal injury claim had become that of the claimant on his death was fallacious, because the issue under paragraph 12 of Schedule 10 was not who was beneficially entitled to the cause of action, but who suffered the personal injury (paragraph 12); 3. the fact that the notional capital provisions in regulation 51(1) and (2) contained exceptions for a trust fund derived from compensation for personal injury, but without specifying that the injury should be to the claimant, could not result in paragraph 12 of Schedule 10, which was concerned with a different question, having a meaning other than that which it plainly had (paragraphs 13-15); 4. there was no doubt that the value of a beneficial interest under a bare trust fell to be taken into account as actual capital under regulation 46(1) of the 1987 Regulations, so that there was no need for the Secretary of State to rely upon regulation 51(1) and (2), and the exceptions to those provisions therefore did not come into play (paragraph 16).
Decision(s) to Download:	R(IS) 3-03 final.doc