Evans v Secretary of State for Social Services ; Kitchen v Same ; Moran v Same ; Begum v Same
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 30 July 1993 |
| Date | 30 July 1993 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Neill, Lord Justice Nolan and Lord Justice Evans
Social security - medical appeal tribunals - guidelines
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeals of the claimants, Ann Evans, Michael Frederick Kitchen, Patricia Moran and Shafina Begum, from the decisions of social security commissioners.
Mr Jeremy R. Baker for Ann Evans; Mr Stephen Bedeau for Michael Kitchen; Mr Richard Allfrey for Patricia Moran and Shafina Begum; Mr Robert Jay for the Secretary of State for Social Services.
LORD JUSTICE NEILL said that the four appeals were concerned with the entitlement to payment of benefits which were payable under the Social Security Act 1975 which had now been repealed and replaced by the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and the Social Security Administration Act 1992.
Under the 1975 Act a claimant for some of the benefits payable was required to satisfy certain medical criteria. In such cases the medical aspect of the claim was referred in the first instance to a medical board and then, either by way of appeal or review, to a medical appeal tribunal. A decision of a medical appeal tribunal had to comply with certain requirements under regulation 31(4) of the 1986 Regulations.
The record of the decision (a) was to be in writing; (b) signed by all members of the tribunal; (c) include a statement of the tribunal's decision; (d) the statement of the reasons was to include the tribunal's findings on all questions of fact material to the decision.
It was common ground that the question whether a record of the decision of a medical appeal tribunal complied with regulation 31(4) was a question of law as to which an appeal lay to a social security commissioner and thence with leave to the Court of Appeal.
An important element in the present appeals was that two quite recent decisions of social security commissioners had disclosed a difference of approach to the obligations of a medical appeal tribunal.
His Lordship had come to the conclusion that it was not possible to lay down guidelines in other than in broad terms. Much would depend...
To continue reading
Request your trial