LR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Neutral Citation | [2022] UKUT 65 (AAC) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) |
2022 Feb 8; 16
Social security - Welfare benefits - Universal credit - Claimant receiving Irish widow’s contributory pension - Secretary of State deciding amount of Irish pension to be deducted from claimant’s universal credit award as unearned income - Whether Irish pension “analogous” to UK “widow’s pension” - Whether relevant that claimant not entitled to receive analogous UK benefit -
Following the death of her husband the claimant made a claim for universal credit. She later began receiving an Irish widow’s contributory pension. The Secretary of State decided that the Irish pension payments were “analogous to” a United Kingdom benefit “mentioned” in regulation 66(1)(b) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013F1, namely widow’s pension, and thus were “unearned income” under regulation 66(1)(c) which fell to be deducted from the claimant’s universal credit. That decision was maintained on mandatory reconsideration and the claimant’s appeal to the First-tier Tribunal was dismissed.
On the claimant’s appeal, and on the question whether a benefit payable under the law of another country ought to be treated as unearned income where the claimant was not entitled to receive the analogous UK benefit—
Held, dismissing the appeal, (1) that for the purposes of regulation 66(1)(c) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 the analogous benefit had merely to be “mentioned” in regulation 66(1)(b); that the intended effect of regulation 66(1)(c) was to deduct from a person’s universal credit payments any foreign benefit which provided an income which met that person’s needs in a materially similar way to a UK benefit and it was irrelevant whether the person in question was also entitled to (or actually received) the analogous UK benefit; that, therefore, where a person was paid a foreign benefit which was analogous to one of the benefits listed in regulation 66(1)(b)(i)–(ix) those payments were to be classified as unearned income and deducted from the person’s universal credit entitlement, regardless of whether the person was entitled to the UK benefit; and that, accordingly, the legislation did not require the claimant to be entitled to UK widow’s pension for her Irish pension to be treated as unearned income (post, paras 32, 36, 37, 39, 41, 46–48, 54, 55, 57).
(2) That to be “analogous”, the foreign benefit had to be similar or comparable to the UK benefit in relevant respects but it did not have to be identical; that the essential question was whether the two benefits were similar in terms of their nature and purpose; that as both the Irish widow’s contributory pension and UK widow’s pension resulted in a weekly income at an amount determined by a range of factors, and as both had similar conditions for entitlement, they were sufficiently analogous for the purposes of regulation 66(1)(c), such differences as existed being immaterial for the purposes of the statutory analogy; and that, accordingly the Irish widow’s contributory pension was analogous to UK widow’s pension and as such fell to be deducted from the claimant’s award of universal credit as unearned income (post, paras 64, 67, 68).
The following case is referred to in the judgment:
R (Moore) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
No additional cases were cited in argument or referred to in the skeleton arguments.
APPEAL from the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber)
By a decision dated 26 February 2020 the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) dismissed an appeal by the claimant, LR, against the decision of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, made on 8 October 2018 and maintained on mandatory reconsideration on 14 May 2019, that the claimant was in receipt of unearned income in the form of an Irish widow’s contributory pension which fell to be deducted from her universal credit. The First-tier Tribunal having refused permission to appeal, on 21 August 2020 Upper Tribunal Judge West granted the claimant permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. The ground of appeal was that, on the proper construction of regulation 66(1) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013, a benefit payable under the law of another country ought not to be treated as unearned income, on the basis of being “analogous” to a UK benefit mentioned in regulation 66(1)(b), unless the claimant was actually entitled to receive the analogous UK benefit.
The facts are stated in the judgment, post, paras 1–11.
Emily MacKenzie (instructed by
The claimant did not appear and was not represented.
The tribunal took time for consideration.
16 February 2022. UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE WEST promulgated the following judgment.
Decision
The decision of the First-tier Tribunal sitting at Fox Court dated 26 February 2020 under file reference SC242/19/05749 does not involve an error on a point of law. The appeal against that decision is dismissed.
Reasons
Introduction1 This is an appeal, with my permission, against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal sitting at Fox Court on 26 February 2020.
2 I shall refer to the appellant hereafter as “the claimant”. The respondent is the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. I shall refer to her hereafter as “the Secretary of State”. I shall refer to the tribunal which sat on 26 February 2020 as “the Tribunal”.
3 The claimant appealed against the decision of 8 October 2018 that she was in receipt of unearned income in the form of an Irish widow’s contributory pension (“IWCP”) which fell to be deducted from her universal credit. The Secretary of State decided that her IWCP was to be classified as “unearned income” under the relevant legislative provisions because it was analogous to UK widow’s pension. The decision was reconsidered, but not revised, on 14 May 2019.
4 The matter came before the Tribunal on 26 February 2020 when the claimant appeared with a friend and a Russian interpreter and gave oral evidence. The Secretary of State was represented by a presenting officer. The appeal was refused and the original decision confirmed.
History of the claim5 The claimant made a claim for universal credit on 28 April 2018. She declared that she was not working and had a health condition restricting her ability to take up or look for work. On 30 May 2018 she applied for and was granted bereavement support payment (“BSP”). On 6 June 2018 she provided a copy of her late husband’s death certificate confirming that he had died on 27 April 2018. She also provided a copy of her BSP notice.
6 Following submission of her application, her universal credit was calculated for the assessment period 28 April 2018 to 27 May 2018 as the standard allowance of £317.82 and the housing element of £514.28 (with no deductions), giving her a total of £832.10.
7 On 13 September 2018 she reported that she had started to receive an Irish pension payment. On 24 September 2018 she provided a copy of a letter dated 8 June 2018 from the Social Welfare Service Office in Sligo, Ireland, which confirmed that she had been provisionally awarded an IWCP at the maximum rate of €203.50 per week from 15 June 2018.
8 On 8 October 2018 a decision was made to take into account the sum of £786.33 per month (ie the monthly amount of her IWCP) for the period from 28 August 2018 to 27 September 2018. The adjustment meant that £786.33 was deducted from her universal credit of £832.10 as it was counted as unearned income, which left a balance of £45.77 universal credit to be paid to her.
9 On 21 November 2018 she requested an explanation as to why the sum had been deducted and that was provided to her. She then requested a mandatory reconsideration on the basis that she had been provisionally awarded IWCP and it would stop when she reached 66.
10 On 14 May 2019 the decision was upheld on the mandatory reconsideration. She filed an appeal on 9 June 2019 and an oral hearing was held on 26 February 2020, as a result of which the Tribunal upheld the decision of the Secretary of State. The Tribunal refused permission to appeal.
The statement of reasons11 So far as material, the Tribunal found that:
“11. The Tribunal accepted [the claimant] as a credible, reliable and honest witness who presented her case in a straightforward manner. She has kept the respondent updated at all times as to her financial position and provided all relevant documents as and when required. However this was not a credibility issue. The sole issue before me was whether the Irish Widow’s (Contributory) Pension should be counted an unearned income for the purpose of calculating her Universal Credit.
“12. Regulation 66 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 at paragraph 1(c) is the relevant provision in this appeal and it defines unearned income as any benefit, allowance or other payment which is paid under the law mentioned in sub-paragraph (b).
“13. The term analogous should be given its normal meaning and does not mean identical to, or the same as, but rather similar to, or corresponding to.
“14. Bereavement Support Payment (“BSP”) is a benefit that does not fall to be deducted as unearned income and [the claimant] submitted that her WCP should be counted as the same as this as it is not an indefinite payment and she had only been awarded it provisionally.
“15. BSP replaced bereavement benefits for those people in the UK whose spouse or civil partner died on or after 06/04/2017. These payments are not deducted from UC. They are time limited to a maximum of 18 months. I find that the WCP has not been time limited. Although it [is] described as a provisional award those payments have been put in place and are ongoing. It is clear from the correspondence that they...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
LR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (UC)
...SSWP (UC) [2022] UKUT 65 (AAC) IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL (ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS CHAMBER) Appeal No. CUC/1019/2020 BEFORE UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE WEST On Appeal from the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) SC242/19/05749 BETWEEN Appellant LR and Respondent THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR W......